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They were entering the door-yard where a cow¬ 
boy advanced to take their ponies. 

(Page 164 ) (“Virginia’s Ranch Neighbors.”) 










VIRGINIA’S 
RANCH NEIGHBORS 


By GRACE MAY NORTH J 


Author of 

“Virginia of V. M. Ranch,” “Virginia at Vine Haven,” 
“Virginia’s Adventure Club,” “Virginia’s 
Romance.” 



A. L. BURT COMPANY 
Publishers New York 

Printed in U. S. A. 






















THE 

VIRGINIA DAVIS SERIES 

A SERIES OF STORIES FOR GIRLS OF TWELVE 
TO SIXTEEN YEARS OF AGE 

By GRACE MAY NORTH 

VIRGINIA OF V. M. RANCH 
VIRGINIA AT VINE HAVEN 
VIRGINIA’S ADVENTURE CLUB 
VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 
VIRGINIA’S ROMANCE 


Copyright, 1924 

By A. L. BURT COMPANY '/ 
VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


Made ia “U. S. A.” 


RUG 14 ’24» 


© Cl A 8 0.0 4 7 4 . 













VIRGINIA’S RANCH 
NEIGHBORS 


CHAPTER I. 

HOME ONCE MORE. 

“Oh Virg, are we really to arrive at your desert 
home this morning?” Betsy Clossen exclaimed the 
first moment that she opened her eyes on the fifth 
day after their departure from the Vine. Haven 
Boarding School. 

“Not until nearly noon,” Virginia, who was 
dressing in the lower berth, smiled up at the eager 
face that peered down from the upper. 

“And will your nice brother Malcolm be there 
to meet us, do you suppose?” 

“I certainly hope so. I wired him from Chicago 
that we were to be on this train. If he can’t come 
himself, for any reason, he will surely send Lucky 
over with the car.” 


3 



4 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


“That’s one disillusioning thing about the 
desert,” Betsy continued. “I’m powerfully sorry 
that you have an automobile. It’s heaps too mod¬ 
ern. I wish we were to be met with a—well a 
prairie schooner or something like that.” 

Virg laughed. “I’m afraid you are going to be 
disappointed in us, Betsy. You’ll find V. M. really 
quite tame if you have been reading Wild West 
stories.” Then Margaret said quietly to her berth 
companion, “I do wish something exciting would 
happen the moment we arrive, don’t you, Virg?” 

The older girl smiled but shook her sunny head. 
“No need to wish for that these days, dear. Life 
in Arizona is not nearly as thrilling as it is in the 
city of New York, if one can believe the news¬ 
papers.” 

“Don’t tell Betsy, for if she thinks it is to be too 
commonplace, it will take all the thrill of expectancy 
out of it for her. You know she is never really 
enjoying herself unless there is a mystery to un¬ 
ravel or some adventure awaiting her.” 

Fifteen minutes later the four girls were in the 
dining car. 

Betsy beamed on her companions. The early 
morning sun falling on her red-brown hair made it 
shine like burnished gold. 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 5 

‘‘Even your freckles look gilded this morning, 1 " 
Barbara teased. 

The pug nose of the youngest wrinkled at her 
tormentor, then with an excited little squeal she ex¬ 
claimed, “Oh, isn't the desert just gloriously lone¬ 
some looking? Those mountains over there are so 
bleak and gray and the canons so dark! I can't see 
a living thing anywhere, can you?" 

Margaret, being questioned, peered out at the 
wide sandy waste of desert stretching to the distant 
mountains that rose grim, gray and forbidding. 
Here and there a clump of greesewood or of mes- 
quite was half buried in mounds of sand that the 
frequent whirlwinds had left. 

Betsy shivered. “Girls," she said solemnly, “the 
very scene teems with mystery. I just feel sure 
that an exciting adventure is about to begin at most 
any moment. The setting is perfect for one. I’m 
going to watch that sandhill over there as long as 
it's in sight. I expect to see a Mexican bandit peer 
around it and utter a shrill cry which will mean—" 

“Do the young ladies wish oatmeal this morn¬ 
ing?" It was the suave waiter who had interrupted, 
and although the girls gave their orders with 
solemn faces, they laughed merrily when they were 
agalh alone. 


6 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 

“It’s too bad to disappoint you, Betsy, but that’s 
about the way all of your hoped-for adventures will 
end,” Virginia told her friend. 

The four girls, Virginia Davis, the seventeen- 
year-old mistress of V. M. Ranch and her adopted 
sister, Margaret Selover, who was sixteen, their 
neighbor, Barbara Blair Wente, also sixteen, and 
Virginia’s guest, Betsy Clossen, who as yet was but 
fifteen, had traveled from Vine Haven, where they 
had been attending boarding school for the past 
year. 

Although the other three girls were well acquainted 
with the Arizona desert, Betsy Clossen had never 
been west of Chicago. However, she had often fre¬ 
quented that big city, as she had many others in 
the east, for her father was a famous detective who 
was often following clues that led him from Chi¬ 
cago to New York, and, at first, not wanting to be 
parted from his motherless little girl, he had taken 
her with him, but at last, believing that he was doing 
the child an injustice, he had placed her in the Vine 
Haven boarding school, where she had since re¬ 
mained, making friends of all whom she met. The 
years she had spent as her father’s close companion 
had given her an insight into the ways of unravel- 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 7 

mg mysteries and the game had fascinated her ad¬ 
venture-loving nature. 

To the great amusement of the girls she was al¬ 
ways trying to imagine a mystery that she might 
solve it, but in the past year she had twice failed 
while two of her comrades who had no such am¬ 
bition had been successful, and so, no wonder was 
it that Betsy looked forward to the desert as a place 
where she would surely find a mystery to solve. 

Virginia, who had been born on the V. M. Ranch, 
which was twenty miles from the town of Douglas, 
and who had lived there all her seventeen years, 
was indeed overjoyed because she was returning to 
the home she so loved, to her very dear brother Mal¬ 
colm Davis and to old Uncle Tex, who, when he 
was younger, had been the foreman of V. M. 

The father of Barbara Wente had recently pur¬ 
chased the Dartley Ranch which was four miles 
north of V. M. This he had given to his son Pey¬ 
ton. Barbara had learned that the old house was 
interesting, but she had never seen it as, with the 
other girls, she had left almost at once after the deal 
had been completed, for the school in the east. 

“What do you think, Virg?” Babs chattered as 
the four girls with their hats on and their bags 
ready, sat peering ahead, “Peyton wrote in his very 


8 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


last letter that he hasn’t even opened the old ranch 
house yet. He is leaving it for us to do.” 

“I adore old houses,” Betsy began, when Virginia 
exclaimed as she pointed out the windows. “See 
that dark hole in the mountain just ahead of us?” 
The others leaned forward to look. 

“Oh, good!” Margaret exclaimed. “It’s the last 
tunnel, and Silver Creek station is just beyond.” 
Megsy turned toward her adopted sister, a flushed 
eagerness betraying the excitement she felt. “Just 
think, Virg, in ten minutes we are to see Malcolm.” 

Betsy uttered a little excited squeal as the train 
plunged into the darkness of the tunnel. 

“Virg, isn’t this a thrilling moment,” Barbara 
whispered, “not being sure who is to be at the other 
end?” 

Sunlight again flashed into the car windows. 
Virginia stooped and looked out. “There’s the 
little old station that’s the only house for miles a/id 
miles around, but I don’t see anyone on the plat¬ 
form except the old man who lives there. Won¬ 
der what has happened ?” 

Mr. Wells, the Silver Creek station master, hur¬ 
ried forward when he saw that the limited was 
slowing down. It never stopped unless it had pas¬ 
sengers. When the four girls alighted, the tallest 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 9 

placed her bags on the platform and went toward 
the weather-tanned middle aged man with hands 
outstretched. “Oh, Mr. Wells,” she exclaimed, 
and her voice betrayed her anxiety, “why isn’t my 
brother here to meet me, or Uncle Tex or one of 
the boys ? I sent them a telegram. Didn’t you get 
it?” 

The small boy, Davie, who had a front tocth 
missing, had come running up from somewhere. 
“Yes’m, Miss Virginia,” he said breathlessly, “I 
took the telegram over to V. M. two days ago jest 
as soon as Pa give it to me. Mis’ Mahoy was all 
the folks I could find. The men was out riding the 
range. She said they seemed to be huntin’ for 
something. She didn’t know what, but they acted 
mighty puzzlin’. Uncle Tex, though, he was 
’spected back that night or the next.” 

The girls had gathered around, listening, when 
suddenly the boy, who felt very important, as he 
was the center of attention, suddenly leaped across 
the platform and looked toward the north. “Pa,” 
he shouted, “see that dust cloud a-comin’? D’y 
’spose it’s a stampede or suthin’? D’y ’spose—” 

“I do believe it’s our automobile.” Virginia 
shaded her eyes to gaze through the dazzling sun¬ 
shine. It was indeed, but it was approaching in 


10 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


such a zig-zag manner that even Mr. Wells was 
puzzled. 

“I reckon the fellar at the steerin' gear is plumb 
beat out. I figger that thar car’s sort o’ runnin’ it¬ 
self,” he speculated. 

The watchers were convinced that this was true 
for as the cloud of sand cleared away, they could 
see the big seven passenger car that belonged to the 
V. M. Ranch, but the driver was neither Lucky nor 
Malcolm. 

“It can’t be Uncle Tex, for he doesn’t know how 
to drive,” Virginia had just said, when Margaret 
exclaimed, “But it is Uncle Tex, and he certainly 
doesn’t know how to drive. Oh, Virg, did you see 
the lunge he took just then? I do believe he is go¬ 
ing right over the tracks and down into the dry 
creek instead of coming this way.” 

“Mighty-tighty!” The station master’s favorite 
expletive expressed his consternation. “Cain’t 
nuthin’ be done to head him off? I dunno a tarnel 
thing about them pesky iron-bronchos.” 

Virginia had caught one glance of the driver’s 
face as the front wheel had struck a hummock of 
sand, causing the car to swerve. If it should cross 
the tracks, it would plunge over the steep bank and 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


11 


crash down among the huge rocks on the bed of 
the dry creek. 

Leaping from the platform Virginia shouted, 
“Uncle Tex, stop the car!” 

Luckily it had slowed considerably since the 
sand, through which it was ploughing, was deep 
and soft. Virginia sprang upon the running board, 
leaned over and shut off the gas. 

“Uncle Tex,” she cried, “why did you risk your 
life that way?” The old man removed his som¬ 
brero and was mopping his brow. “I dunno, Miss 
Virginia, dearie, I foresee, now, I orter not have 
done it, but it allays looked plumb easy, and when 
thar wan’t no one else to come an’ meet yo’ all, I 
jest figgered as I’d take a chance.” 

The girl got in the car and skillfully brought it 
alongside the platform. Then, leaping out, she be¬ 
gan stowing the bags in back, while Margaret and 
Babs welcomed the old man, who found, when he 
tried to stand that his knees were “plumb beat out.” 
Betsy was introduced, then Virginia asked, “Why 
didn’t Malcolm come?” 

Uncle Tex looked quickly around to be sure that 
Mr. Wells was out of hearing, then he said softly, 
“I cain’t be tellin’ ye, least-wise, not here, Miss 
Virginia, dearie. Malcolm said, ‘Keep it dark.’ 


12 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


He’s all right, though. You needn’t be fearin’ as 
to that.” 

Betsy had heard enough of this conversation to 
be tingling with curiosity and excitement. It cer¬ 
tainly did sound to her as though there was both 
mystery and adventure awaiting them, nor was she 
wrong. 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 13 


CHAPTER II. 

HUNTING THE SURPRISE. 

With Virginia at the wheel, the seven passenger 
car kept on the well-beaten road that extended from 
the Silver Creek Junction to the V. M. Ranch. 

Uncle Tex sat beside the girl whom he so loved 
and the three on the rear seat often sent smiling 
glances, one to another, as they noticed his pride 
in his “gars” skillful driving. 

“Seems powerful pleasin’ to have yo-all back, 
Miss Virginia dearie,” the old man said as the car 
began the ascent of the mesa road. 

The girl at the wheel flashed him a bright smile. 
“Oh, but it’s good to be home. I can hardly wait to 
reach the top of the trail.” Then glancing back over 
her shoulder, she called “Betsy, in just another mo¬ 
ment you are to behold the nicest spot on earth, or, at 
least, it is to me.” Then chancing to recall some¬ 
thing, she inquired “Uncle Tex, I’m just ever so 
curious to know what the surprise is that you have 
for me. May I have three guesses?” 


14 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 

She and Malcolm as children had always had 
three guesses whenever the old man had brought 
them a treasure from out on the range. Then, when 
they had guessed, they searched through his many 
pockets to find it. The weather-tanned face 
wrinkled in an amused smile. “I reckon ’twould 
take more’n three guesses. Miss Virginia this time, 
I reckon ’twould, an’ even then, ’twon’t be found 
in my pocket nowise.” 

“Oho, that’s a hint. It’s something big!” Then 
over her shoulder. “Girls, help guess. Megsy, you 
and Babs have lived with me at V. M., so you might 
perhaps, think what Uncle Tex has planned for my 
surprise.” 

“Maybe it’s a new hen-corral,” Margaret sug¬ 
gested. “I remember one twilight last year when 
I went out to get the eggs, and found a coyote in 
the hen house, Uncle Tex said the very first thing 
he was going to do after we left was to build 
stronger fences.” 

The pleased grin on the old man’s face was evi¬ 
dent even to the girls on the back seat. “Ah was 
messin’ round fixin’ that fence long fore yo-all’s 
train hit the big city, I reckon, but that guess 
missed the heifer, so coil yer rope and throw 
again.” 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 15 


Betsy chuckled. She was delighted with the old 
man, not only because he was such an interesting 
character but also because he was lovable. 

“Hm’ let me see!” Babs pretended to think hard. 
“I recall now that Virginia wished she had a pond 
near the wind mill so that she might keep ducks.” 

“Oh, but Uncle Tex wrote me that he had made 
a duck pond for me just as soon as spring rains 
were over, so that can’t be it.” 

The old man’s head was shaking. “Yo-all ain’t 
teched it yet,” he was saying, when Virg uttered a 
little cry of joy. “Look ahead, Betsy, quick, if you 
want to get the very first glimpse of V. M.” 

The little maid on the back seat stood up and 
peered between the two in front as the car reached 
the edge of the plateau nearest the ranch. 

There in the valley was the big rambling low- 
built adobe house, beyond it were the bunk houses, 
the hen yard, the wrangling corral, the pens for the 
cattle that needed temporary sheltering, the small 
adobe house nearer the dry creek bottom in which 
lived the Mahoys, and towering above them all was 
the huge red windmill, the great wings of which 
were slowly turning in the gentle breeze that was 
blowing from the west. 

[While the little stranger’s glance roamed from 


16 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


one of these buildings to another, Virginia’s violet 
eyes were eagerly searching the trails leading to the 
ranch, hoping that on one of them she might see 
her brother returning from the mysterious errand 
about which Uncle Tex had hinted and the nature 
of which as yet she did not know. There was no 
one in sight. Not wishing her companions to know 
how truly anxious she was, Virg stopped the car 
and turned with a bright smile to exclaim: “Girls, 
welcome to my home.” 

Betsy was charmed with the inside of the ranch 
house as she had been with the out. The great liv¬ 
ing room, with its wide fireplace on which a mes- 
quite root burned slowly, suggested cosy evenings 
spent around it. 

The long library table scattered over with books 
and magazines, the student lamp with its wide 
warm-colored shade, many comfortable arm chairs, 
a piano and its companioning music box, bear skin 
rugs on floor and wall, and pictures framed by the 
windows, of desert, sand hill and distant moun¬ 
tains, furnished the most home-like room that little 
Betsy had ever seen. 

“I’m going to just love it here,” she said, then to 
tease, she merrily added, “if you can provide me 
with a mystery.” 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 17 

Virginia laughed. “Girls,” she turned to the 
other two,” since we three are hostesses, and it is 
our aim to please, let’s make up a mystery, but 
there, I musn’t tell Betsy what it is to be. In fact 
I haven’t thought it out yet. But come, let’s take 
our bags to our rooms for Uncle Tex is waiting to 
show us the surprise.” 

The two large, sun-flooded bedrooms were next 
each other with a door opening between. 

Margaret and Virginia were to share the room 
which Virg had occupied since her childhood, while 
Babs and Betsy were to have the other for their 
very own. 

“I can hardly wait until our trunks come,” Babs 
prattled. “I am just wild to see myself in my new 
cow-girl costume.” 

“You looked at yourself times enough in the 
school mirror,” Megsy said to tease. 

“Perhaps, but the setting wasn’t right. It will 
look quite different out here where the mesquite 
bushes grow,” Babs retorted. 

“I came so unexpected like,” Betsy deplored. “I 
didn’t have time to buy me a khaki outfit, so what 
shall I do. I don’t want to look like a tenderfoot.” 

“As though you could help it, whatever you 
wore!” Babs began, on mischief-bent, but Virg 


18 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


solaced. ‘Til loan you one of mine that I have 
outgrown. You won’t have to buy one just for the 
month that you are with us.” But the little maid 
declared eagerly, “Oh yes, I will, Virg, if there is 
a place to buy it. I’d love to wear it at my aunt’s 
summer home in the east and make the boys en¬ 
vious.” 

Uncle Tex was seen coming slowly up from the 
garage, and Virg knew that he was eager to show 
them what he had planned as a surprise. 

Catching Betsy and Babs by the hand and nod¬ 
ding a merry invitation to Margaret, Virg led the 
way out of the wide front doors, but, before she 
had gone many steps from the veranda, a big 
shaggy creature hurled itself at her from the trail 
leading from the cabin of the Mahoys. 

“Goodness!” Betsy cried in alarm, “Is it a desert 
wolf or a coyote?” She needed no answer, for the 
creature, wagging itself for joy sprang upon its 
beloved mistress and uttered queer little yelps of 
delight. 

“Shags is plumb nigh as pleased to see yo-all, 
Miss Virginia dearie, seems like, as yo’ old Uncle 
Tex was, though I reckon, he cain’t be, quite.” 

A glance in the direction from which the dog 
had come revealed the Mahoy family awaiting in 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 19 


front of their small adobe house to share in the wel¬ 
come, so, excusing herself, Virg ran down the trail, 
Shags at her heels barking his glee. Mrs. Mahoy 
had a new baby in her arms and Virginia beckoned 
the other girls to come and see it. 

“Ain’t she nice though?” It was Patsy, now 
aged ten, who looked about at the group of girls 
who were eagerly peering into a flannel bundle to 
find the wee bit baby: Virginia glowed. “Uncle 
Tex,” she cried turning toward the old man who 
had ambled after them. “I do believe this little baby 
is the surprise that you said we would find on V. M. 
Ranch.” 

“Wall, I reckon ’twas one of ’em,” he confessed, 
“but thar’s another, Miss Virginia, dearie. Spose 
yo-all scatter now and see who’ll be furst to find it.” 

Then away the girls ran. Margaret led them to 
the hen-house, so eager was she to be sure that the 
fences were coyote-proof. They were indeed, for 
the wire fence extended so far underground that 
none of the desert creatures would take the time to 
burrow beneath it so near a residence of the enemy 
man. Too there was a roof of wire netting over 
the small yard, which protected the feathered brood 
from any of the vulturous birds of prey. 

“That certainly is improvement number one,” 


20 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


Virginia cried in delight. ‘‘Many a time I have 
been heart-broken entirely because some of my little 
new chicks have been carried away by pirate birds.” 
They were leaving, when Megsy caught Virg’s arm 
as she squealed gleefully, “I do believe that I’ve 
discovered the surprise. Hark! Don’t you hear a 
faint peeping somewhere?” 

Virginia listened and then, noting that their es¬ 
cort’s grin was broadening, if that were possible, 
she exclaimed, “Oh Uncle Tex, are there really 
some baby chicks ? Where are they ? Please show 
them to us?” 

The chicken yard gate was opened and the old 
man led them to the sunny side of the hen house 
where, from between the bars of a barrel coop, the 
yellow head of an anxious mother protruded as she 
clucked a warning to fifteen balls of fluff that ran 
to her, tumbling on the way and piping their fright. 

“Oh, the dear little things! Please let them stay 
a moment, Biddy Mother,” Margaret implored. “I 
want to hold just one.” 

The one that was lifted ever so tenderly, begged 
so pitifully to be set free, that Megsy put it down 
close to the coop and smiled to watch it scud for 
the shelter of its mother’s wings. 

“Lucky little puff-ball!” Betsy said with a note 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 21 

of sadness in her usually merry voice. ‘‘What 
wouldn’t I give to have a mother to run to.” Uncle 
Tex, who had remained outside, happened to call 
just then. “Better be hurryin’, Miss Virginia 
dearie. Pears like its mos’ lunch time as yo-all 
names it.” 

Virginia glanced at her wrist watch. “True 
enough,” she exclaimed “and now that I am home, 
Uncle Tex, you are to have a long vacation from 
the kitchen. We girls will do all the cooking and 
brewing and mopping and scrubbing and—” but 
the old man, shaking his head, interrupted— 

“Wall, I reckon yo-all won’t have time to do 
much playin’ if yer scheming that-a-way.” 

All unconsciously Virginia sighed. How she did 
wish that the faithful Chinaman, who had been 
cook in her home since she was a baby, had not, the 
year before, decided to revisit the land of his birth. 
He had slipped away without giving notice, (al¬ 
though he had told them months before that he was 
going, sometime), and he had never returned. 

As they crossed the descending trail that led to 
the towering red windmill, Virg glanced at the old 
man, and silently renewed her resolve to relieve 
him of much of the kitchen work, which had been 
his self-assumed task. They had tried Mexican 


22 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


cooks, Malcolm had written her, but Uncle Tex had 
fretted through the brief stay of each one, and had at 
last declared that he didn't want any more “cholos” 
messin’ round Miss Virginia’s kitchen, “spatterin' 
it up,” and that he’d take “keer” of it fer her him¬ 
self, but Virg knew how, during those long months 
of faithful service, his big heart had yearned for 
the freeedom of the range. “I’ll show him how 
much I appreciate what he has done to make the 
home pleasant for my brother while I was gone,” 
the girl had just decided when a cry from Betsy and 
Babs, who had skipped on ahead attracted her at¬ 
tention. They were standing near the windmill 
beckoning excitedly. “I do believe they have found 
the surprise,” Virg confided to Margaret, then she 
glanced inquiringly at the old man, but his beam¬ 
ing expression revealed nothing. 

A moment later the something was revealed. 

“Oh Uncle Tex, how pretty! Did you make 
that all alone and for me? Virginia’s delight 
was indeed real and she was convinced, as were the 
other girls, that at last they had found the sur¬ 
prise about which Uncle Tex had written. Beyond 
the windmill and in the warm shelter of its wide 
walls stood a little garden house over which a blos¬ 
soming vine was growing. Within was a table and 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 23 


four comfortable chairs that had been entirely made 
of yucca stalks and had been skillfully fashioned 
with infinite patience by the leathery, wrinkled 
hands of the old cattleman. 

The garden house itself was made of yucca, the 
stalks being so long and strong that Virginia knew, 
to procure them, the old man had to visit a distant 
part of the desert where they grew. 

Just below the door of this summer house was 
the pond of which Uncle Tex had written, and on 
it several ducks were lazily swimming. 

“There’s water enough for a garden. Miss Vir¬ 
ginia dearie, but Ah reckon’d as yo-all’d want to 
set out the sort of flowers yo’d like best.” Then, 
as Virginia had not spoken, he asked, almost wist¬ 
fully. “Yo-all likes it, don’t yo’, Miss Virginia 
dearie?” 

There were tears in the violet eyes that turned 
toward him. “Like it! Oh, Uncle Tex!” Her 
arms were about him and her soft young cheek 
was pressed close to his leathery one. “I was just 
hoping mother might knpw. She used so often to 
wish since there are no shade trees near that we 
might have a cool, sheltered out-of-doors place 
where we could take our books and sewing.” 

Then, fearing that the tender-hearted old man 


2 4 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


would regret not having thought to make such a 
summer house in the long ago, she exclaimed 
merrily, “This very day at four, we will serve after¬ 
noon tea, and you, Uncle Tex, shall be the guest 
of honor/’ Then, giving the again smiling old man 
a sudden bear hug, she whispered in his ear, “You 
dear. I’m going to think up the nicest kind of a 
surprise and spring it on you—some day.” 

“When’s your birthday, Uncle Tex?” It was 
Margaret who asked. The old man looked truly 
startled. “Me? Why, Ah’s plumb forgot. Sorto 
seems like it comes in the summer, though.” He 
had removed his sombrero and was scratching one 
ear meditatively. He seemed actually to be trying 
to recall a forgotten date. 

“I’ll tell you what,” Babs sang out, “let’s pick 
out a day before Betsy goes home and give Uncle 
Tex a surprise party.” 

“It won’t be much of a surprise, since you are 
telling him about it,” Margaret began, but Bar¬ 
bara declared that it would be, since he wouldn’t 
know, until he received the invitation, which day 
had been chosen. 

They were walking toward the house as they 
chatted. Virginia and the old man lingered back 
of the others. Margaret had made this possible, 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 25 


for she felt sure that her adopted sister was anxious 
about Malcolm’s prolonged absence, and, for that 
matter, she was herself, and surely she had a right 
to be, since she was his ward. 

Virg had often glanced at the trails that led one 
of them toward the sand hills, another toward 
Seven Peak Range, and a third toward Puffed 
Snake Water Hole, but on none of them did horse¬ 
men appear. 

“Uncle Tex,” she said softly as she slipped a de¬ 
taining arm in that of her companion, “can’t you 
tell me why Malcolm is away at this time? It must 
be something of a very serious nature to keep him 
from home when he knew that I would be arriving 
this week.” 

There was a shade of anxiety on the face of the 
old man. “ ’Tis, Miss Virginia dearie. Leastwise, 
Ah reckon ’tis. It all happened hurried like. Lucky 
came ridin’ in ’long ’bout sundown two nights ago. 
‘Ah’ve hit the trail sure sartin,’ was all Ah heard 
him say. Then Malcolm buckled on his gun belt. 
‘Keep it dark which way we ride,’ he says to me, 
then they was gone. Ah was plumb puzzled and 
Ah sure am still, but on certain thought Malcolm’d 
be cornin’ back by now or sendin’ word, knowin’ as 
yo-all was ’spected.” 


26 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


“Well, I’ll not worry,” the girl said wisely. 
“Malcolm never runs into trouble needlessly.” 
Then, as they had overtaken the others, Virginia 
called as gaily as she could, that her guests need not 
know of her anxiety. “Who wants to be helper in 
the kitchen this noon ? Fm going thither to be chief 
cook.” 

“Oh, can’t we all help?” Margaret hurried to in¬ 
quire. Then she nudged Virg and nodded toward 
the old man who (trying to keep behind them) was 
making frantic motions towards a kitchen window. 
When Virginia turned, he attempted to assume 
such an innocent expression that the girls were even 
more puzzled. 

Virg pretending not to have seen his gestures, 
caught his hardened hand as she leaped up on the 
veranda, calling, “Uncle Tex, you come too, and be 
my advisor. It’s so long since I have cooked, may¬ 
be I have forgotten how.” 

Virginia felt sure that another of the old man’s 
surprises awaited her in the kitchen, nor was she 
wrong. 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 27 


CHAPTER III. 

Malcolm’s return. 

It was four in the afternoon and the girls, having 
had a long siesta after their lunch, had donned their 
muslin dresses (for the station master had arrived 
soon after noon with their trunks), and, taking Bar¬ 
bara’s cherished tea set, without which she never 
traveled, they had hied them to the summer house. 
Virg gathered a few of the scarlet blossoms that 
grew wild after the rains. Nearly all of them dried 
up but one clump had remained to welcome the girls. 
These she placed on the yucca table. Margaret was 
carrying a plate of small cakes. Betsy had a tray on 
which were five cups and saucers and tiny spoons. 
Babs, at the end of the line, held the fragile pot of 
delicate blue which was brimming with weak but hot 
tea. 

Virg stood back to admire the table when it was 
set. Then laughingly she exclaimed: “I just can’t 
get over it. I never was more surprised in all my 


28 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


life. When I opened the kitchen door and saw that 
dear old Sing Long fussing around the stove, as 
though he weren’t expecting us, I just had to rush 
up and hug him.” 

“Whizzle, but you certainly took the wind out of 
my sails, as Cousin Bob says,” Betsy declared, 'I’ve 
always been scared of Chinamen and to see you 
actually embracing one! I dunno as I’ll ever recover 
from the shock.” 

"I don’t believe there’s a kinder, nobler, more 
faithful race of people on this earth,” Margaret 
championed, “and Sing Long is just like home folks 
to Virginia, isn’t he Virg?” 

The shining-eyed girl nodded. “He surely is. 
Why, Betsy, Sing was here before mother came as 
a bride. I’m so glad he wanted to come back. I 
wouldn’t have Uncle Tex know it, not for worlds, 
but I was rather dreading the responsibility of cook¬ 
ing for so many people, and now we won’t have any¬ 
thing to do, but plan—” 

“Mysteries,” Betsy cut in. Then she asked: 
“Virg, I may be slow as a detective, but I certainly 
do think the way you keep looking in first one direc¬ 
tion and then another is most mysterious.” 

The young hostess sat down in one of the com¬ 
fortable yucca chairs. “Have you noticed it?” she 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 29 


inquired, “Well, then, I’ll explain. I’m not really 
worried, but I’ll confess I am puzzled.” 

She then told the other three girls all that Uncle 
Tex knew of her brother’s sudden departure two 
nights before. 

Megsy smiled and nodded toward the little 
stranger-to-the-desert, for, with a brow supposedly 
wrinkled in deep thought, she sat gazing across the 
shining stretch of sand toward the mountains. 

“What do you make of it, Mistress Detective?” 
Babs asked merrily. 

“I don’t,” was the frank answer. “Virg, what 
do you?” 

“Well,” the oldest girl replied, “since Lucky rode 
in, after nightfall, in such haste and told brother that 
he was sure he had hit the trail, I conclude that there 
had been a—” 

“Oh, do you think it was a holdup, or something 
like that?” This from the eager Betsy. 

“No, I don’t. I think a mountain lion may have 
been killing the young calves and that Lucky and 
Slim have been trying to trail it.” 

“How disappointing! I’m not at all interested in 
solving a mystery which has only a mountain lion in 
the leading part.” 

Babs teased. “I’ll say you aren’t. You wouldn’t 


30 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


want to start on any clues that would lead you to a 
lion’s den.” 

“Girls,” Virg suddenly exclaimed, “our guest of 
honor has forgotten to come. There he goes riding 
along the creek bottom, so we’ll have to drink the 
tea, for, if we don’t, it will soon be cold.” 

“Oh dear, that is too bad! It’s piping hot now and 
this pot holds six cups. Can’t we find another 
guest of honor to—” 

“Lookee! Lookee!” Betsy had leaped to her feet 
and was pointing toward the trail that led from the 
sandhills. 

Two horsemen were approaching at a gallop, and 
Virginia cried, “Oh, how I hope one of them is 
Brother Malcolm.” 

“Then the mystery will be solved,” Betsy ex¬ 
claimed joyfully. 

As the horsemen neared, Virg and Margaret ran 
out of the summer house and waved their handker¬ 
chiefs for they were no longer in doubt as to the 
identity of the newcomers. 

There was an answering shout of joy from the 
one in the lead and Malcolm leaped from his horse 
and ran toward them waving his sombrero. The 
older cowboy led the ponies to the corral. 

“O brother, brother,” Virginia’s welcome was at 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 31 


once laughing and tearful, as she was caught in the 
lad’s strong arms. “I’m glad, glad I went away just 
for the joy of knowing what home means. Not that 
I didn’t always love it here, but Oh, brother, you 
can’t guess how many wakeful hours I had just hun¬ 
gering to hear your voice, and now, if you’ll let me 
I’m going to stay right here for ever and ever and 
ever.” 

The giant of a lad laughed happily as he turned to 
greet his ward, who, with flushed cheeks and a wist¬ 
ful light in her tender brown eyes, was waiting near 
until the brother and sister had welcomed each other. 
Then Babs came and Betsy was introduced. “This 
is our would-be young detective,” Virg said merrily. 
“She declares that the desert is an ideal setting for 
a mystery and so we girls are going to make up one 
and let her solve it.” 

“You won’t have to invent one,” Malcolm declared 
as he dropped into the yucca chair toward which his 
sister had led him. “Lucky and I have been awake 
two days and nights trying to solve one that is very 
real. Slim is working on it, too, but he has a 
Mexican boy with him and they have ridden toward 
Sonora.” 

“Oh Mr. Davis!” Betsy leaned forward eagerly. 
“What are the clews ? Do tell us.” 


32 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


But Virginia said: “Not until brother has had 
some refreshment/’ Then to Malcolm: “I don’t sup¬ 
pose you’ve had a thing to eat this noon.” 

“Righto, and for that matter Lucky and I had 
very little for breakfast. We had no idea that we 
would find ourselves on a blind trail,” the lad be¬ 
gan ; then ended with: 

“So a cup of tea will do well for a starter.” He 
accepted the delicate blue cup that Barbara handed 
him with an amused smile. 

Lucky was approaching shyly, sombrero in hand. 
Virginia, chancing to see him, stepped out of the 
summer house and beckoned to him. 

His awkward bow when he was introduced would 
have amused Betsy at another time, but just then 
her entire thought was given to the mystery about 
which she was soon to hear. 

“No, ma’am, thanks.” Lucky twirled his hat and 
shifted from one foot to the other when Barbara 
offered him one of the eggshell china cups. “Ah jest 
wanted to say howdy to yo-all.” He was visibly 
embarrassed. Then with a nod toward the house 
he added, “Sing said frijoli all hottee.” 

Malcolm rose. “Young ladies,” he addressed them 
all, “if you will permit us to satisfy our inner crav- 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 33 


ings, I’ll promise within the hour to tell you all the 
clews we have been able to discover.” 

Lucky had gone on ahead and Virginia, linking 
her arm in that of her brother, walked with him 
toward the house. 

“Can’t you give me an inkling of an idea as to 
what it is all about? Is it anything we girls can 
help solve?” 

The lad was at once serious. “No, sister. You 
girls are better off here at home with Uncle Tex, 
but we’ll report progress each time we return.” 

Virginia looked troubled. “Oh brother, are you 
going away again? Surely not today.” 

“Not until morning,” he replied. “We’ll both be 
better fit after a good night’s sleep.” Then at the 
kitchen porch, she left him and walked slowly back 
to the summer house. The three girls eagerly 
awaited her. 

“Did Malcolm tell you the clews ?” Of course this 
was from Betsy. “Why, no.” Virginia declared. “I 
was so concerned about my brother that I forgot to 
ask him where he had been or why.” Then Margaret 
had an inspiration. 

“It’s after five by my little wrist watch and so I 
suggest that we put away the tea things and have our 
supper of nice frijolies and bread in the kitchen with 


34 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


the boys. They can tell us the clews while we’re 
eating, for I am sure they will want to tumble into 
bed as soon as they can.” 

Virginia looked at her other guests to see if the 
plan met with their approval. She was not long left 
in doubt. “Oh, goodie, I’d love to have supper with 
a real cowboy. My Cousin Bob will be green with 
envy when I write him about it.” Betsy was gather¬ 
ing up the spoons as she spoke. Soon the little 
procession approached the house. 

Malcolm saw them coming and smiled. “I tell 
you, Lucky, it seems mighty nice to see that sister 
of mine once more. Maybe it’s selfish of me, but 
I hope she won’t want to go away again.” 

Lucky, having finished his supper, rose as the 
girls entered the long kitchen that was flooded with 
the late afternoon sun. 

The middle aged cowboy spoke apologetically: 
“Miss Virginia, if yo-all will excuse me, Ah’ll turn 
in. Ah reckon Ah cain’t keep awake, an’ Malcolm 
here and me’s figgerin’ on hittin’ the trail again 
come sunup.” 

When he was gone, Sing Long served the girls to 
heaping plates of steaming frijolies, generous slices 
of cornbread and tumblers brimming with creamy 
milk. This fare greatly delighted Betsy for it was 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 35 

very different from that to which she was accus¬ 
tomed. 

Malcolm told Sing Long that he, too, might go, 
as they no longer needed him. When they were 
alone, the giant of a lad smiled about at the girls, who 
were eagerly awaiting the beginning of his story. 

“Now,” Virginia said when the door closed be¬ 
hind the Chinaman, “what happened first ?” 

“We heard about it last Monday,” Malcolm began, 
“Lucky and I were loping slowly along down near 
the station. We were on the outlook for strays when 
we saw little Davie Wells riding toward his home 
from the direction of the Three Sand Hills as though 
a stampede of cattle was about to overtake him.” 

“ ‘What's up with the kid, d'ye reckon,' Lucky 
asked me, and I replied, ‘By the way he keeps look¬ 
ing back over his shoulder, you'd think he was being 
pursued, but I don’t see anything chasing him.’ 

“When the lad was near enough for us to see his 
face, we knew, without his telling us, that he was 
very much excited about something. 

“‘Hi-o! Davie, has there been a train robbery?’ 
I shouted when he was near enough to hear. He 
evidently had not seen us, but upon hearing my 
voice, he wheeled his pony and galloped toward us. 
I repeated my question. 


36 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


“ ‘Nope/ he replied breathlessly. ‘Leastwise there 
ain't been one yet, but Pa says sure as a cactus ain't 
a mesquite thar’ll be a robbery in these here parts 
afore sunup tomorrow, Pa says it's sure sartin.' 

“Of course we were interested. We never knew 
our respected station master to prophesy anything 
but that it came to pass with almost uncanny ac¬ 
curacy, so Lucky and I drew rein and listened to 
what the little fellow had to tell, but when we had 
heard him out, all we could make of it was that a 
queer kind of caravan had been seen leaving Douglas 
early that morning headed toward Silver Creek. 
Davie thought maybe there were half a dozen cov¬ 
ered wagons and a dozen mules and dogs, but he 
wasn't certain. The cowboy who'd seen the outfit 
hadn't stopped to count them. 

“ ‘Gypsies, I reckon,' was Lucky's conclusion, and 
if so, kid, your pa's right. Thar’ll be some stealin' 
'fore sunup sure sartin.' Then he looked at me 
with a puzzled expression as he said, ‘Malcolm, I 
never heard tell of gypsies trailin' across the desert 
hereabouts, have you now? 

“I agreed that I had not, but the lad's description 
seemed to fit and so we let it go at that. 

“ ‘Wall, I must be off.' Davie seemed suddenly 
to remember his former haste but I detained him 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 37 


long enough to ask, ‘Where are you going in such a 
hurry ?’ 

“ ‘Over to Slater’s to warn ’em ’bout that robbery 
as Pa says it’s sure sartin.’ 

“Davie’s little wild pony needed no urging and 
a second later all we could see of him was a racing 
sand cloud. I laughed, but Lucky seemed to take 
the matter more seriously. ‘What do you make 
of it?’ I asked when I had let him study on the 
matter in silence for several moments. 

“ ‘Ah jest don’t,’ he replied. ‘Ah cain’t figure no¬ 
how why a caravan of gypsies ’d start across this 
here trackless part of the desert.’ 

“ ‘It isn’t as trackless as it used to be,’ I re¬ 
minded him, ‘for now that all the ranchers own 
automobiles there’s a makeshift sort of a road from* 
one place to the next.’ 

“ ‘Mebbe so, but Ah cain’t figger out why gypsies 
would go to all the trouble of draggin that there 
caravan o’ theirs through the sand jest to be robbin’ 
ranches. They couldn’t make fast enough time to 
get away with it. More’n likely, if they was gypsies, 
they-all thought as how this might be a short cut to 
some place up north where they’re bound for.’ 

“I agreed that Lucky’s version was probably the 
correct one, and, as we saw no evidence of the 


38 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


reported caravan in our neighborhood, I doubtless 
would never have thought of them again if it hadn’t 
been for something which happened that very night.” 

Malcolm paused and the girls, having ceased eat¬ 
ing to listen, leaned forward with renewed interest. 

“Oh, brother, what happened? Please don't stop 
there." 

The lad smiled. “I only stopped to take a breath. 
That is permissible, isn't it ?" 

“Oh-ee! I'm so excited." Betsy's flushed cheeks 
and glowing eyes were evidence that what she said 
was true. “Did the gypsy caravan come?" 

“Was the station master's prophecy correct?" 
Maragaret asked. 

“Were we robbed?" Virginia inquired anxiously. 

Malcolm rose. “Let's go in by the fire," he said. 
“Sing Long wants to clean the table." The China¬ 
man had been opening the door from his room every 
few moments to see if the young people were 
through. Following Malcolm's suggestion the 
girls led the way into the big living room. The 
lad put a dry mesquite root on the coals and then 
sat down in his favorite grandfather chair. “Yes, 
indeed, something of an unusual nature happened 
that night and this is what it was:" 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 39 


CHAPTER IV. 

MALCOLM’S STORY. 

When the girls were seated about the fireplace, 
they turned eagerly to the narrator of the tale 
which had been interrupted by their moving from 
the kitchen to the living-room. 

“Let me see,” the lad was purposely tantalizing, 
“where did I end the first chapter?” Then, before 
he could be prompted, he continued: “Oh, yes; I 
remember. 

“After Davie Wells had left us, Lucky sug¬ 
gested that we ride over to the Three Sand Hills. 
He wanted to climb to the top of the highest one 
and take observations, so to speak, of the entire 
surrounding country. It’s a hard climb, because of 
the sliding stones and sand, but we made it and 
held to the giant yucca up there, while, with shaded 
eyes we looked in every direction. It was an un¬ 
usually clear day and every object stood out as 
though it were magnified, but not a sign of a gypsy 
wagon did we see. Lucky did make out a sand 


40 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


cloud way to the north, but it wasn’t large enough 
to hold a caravan. Lucky believed it to be made by 
a small herd of cattle trailing toward Puffed Snake 
Water Hole. 

“It was dusk when we entered the ranch house, 
and Sing Long was the only person at home. He 
had been baking all the afternoon in the kitchen, 
and had neither seen nor heard anyone passing. 
We did not tell him that we had been informed that 
a gypsy caravan, made up of at least six covered 
wagons, had been seen leaving Douglas and head¬ 
ing our way. We had decided that there really was 
nothing in the report, and Sing Long was inclined 
to be imaginative. 

“After supper Lucky and I sat for a time in front 
of the fireplace. I was reading, and, though Lucky 
held a newspaper and stared at it as though he were 
deeply engrossed in some item of Douglas news, he 
was evidently thinking all the time of what we had 
heard that afternoon. His first remark proved this. 

“Suddenly he sat up very straight and seemed 
to be listening. ‘Did you hear it?’ he asked. ‘A 
sort of a rattling noise?’ 

“I put down my book and listened. I heard 
nothing and I told him so. ‘That is nothing, ex¬ 
cept the bellowing of the prize yearlings that we 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 41 


had driven into the corral the day before.' It did 
seem as though they were making more noise than 
they had during the day. 

“ ‘Wall, I reckon that's only natural,' Lucky tried 
to reassure himself by sayin'. ‘They're restless, 
them young steers air, being shet in arter allays 
havin’ had the freedom of the range.' He returned 
to his newspaper and I to my book, but before 
many minutes I was conscious of the fact that my 
companion was again listening intently. I laughed. 
‘Lucky,’ I remonstrated, ‘aren’t you imaginative 
tonight? Surely you are not expecting a visit from 
Davie's Gypsy caravan, are you? That would be 
utterly impossible, since only two hours ago you 
saw for yourself, when we were on the top of 
Yucca Hill, that there was nothing of the kind for 
many miles around.’ 

“ ‘Wall, I call'ate Ah am sort of skeerful. Truth 
is Ah never did like them Gypsy folk. Ran into 
'em once when Ah was a little shaver, down in 
Texas, and Ah've given 'em a wide berth ever 
since.' Then he rose, saying, as he yawned and 
stretched: ‘Wall, sort o' guess Ah’ll turn in. Ah 
reckon Slim's back from the border, or soon will 
be. Ah’ll take one more look at the corral an’ see if 
them gates are still barred.' 


42 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


“ ‘All right, Lucky. S’long.’ Then I couldn’t 
resist teasing. ‘But don’t stay awake all night lis¬ 
tening for tambourines.’ 

“After he was gone, I became so interested in 
my book that I sat up much later than usual. When 
I did decide to turn in, I first of all stepped out on 
the front porch and looked around. 

“The bunk house was dark and there wasn’t a 
light anywhere on the desert. I was sure that if 
Gypsies were camped nearby they would have a 
night fire to protect them from wild animals and 
keep away insects. 

“The prize yearlings in the corral were quieter, 
although every now and then one would start a 
restless lowing which would awaken a few others. 
Then a moment later, all would be silent. 

“They’re safe enough I thought as I turned in 
and went to bed. 

“I didn’t awaken until dawn, and then it was to 
slowly come to the consciousness that someone was 
pounding on my door. I can’t remember when I 
had ever locked it before. 

“‘Who’s there?’ I called, leaping half dazed 
from bed. 

“It was Lucky who answered, and, in his voice 
I sensed tragedy. 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 43 


“ ‘It's me, Malcolm! The prize yearlings! 
They’re plumb gone!’ 

“Of course I was into my clothes before I was 
hardly awake, nor did I fully grasp the meaning of 
what I had heard until I had flung open the door 
and had beheld Lucky’s face, white in spite of the 
tan which has been deepening there for the past 
forty years. One glance at him and I knew that I 
had heard aright. 

“ ‘What do you make of it ?’ we were swinging 
down the trail toward the corral when I asked the 
question. 

“ ‘Gypsies, of course/ was his laconic reply. 

“ ‘It doesn’t seem possible nor reasonable.’ I was 
not convinced, but, of course, if the prize yearlings 
were really gone, someone had taken them unless 
—‘Lucky/ I said, ‘are you sure they didn’t break 
through the fence somewhere?’ 

“ ‘Ah thought of that, but the tarnel thing is jest 
as whole as ’twas when Slim got through mendin’ 
it only Saturday week/ 

“Just then we reached the drop in the trail and I 
could see the corral. Lucky had spoken truly; not 
a rail was misplaced, and, although the gate was 
standing open and torn from its hinges, it was 


44 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


evident that it had been broken by the impact of the 
stampeding cattle. 

“I stood and stared almost stunned and hardly 
able to believe, even then, that so tragic a disaster 
had come to us. ‘Lucky/ I said, ‘are you sure 
you barred the gate? The yearlings couldn’t get 
through there any more than through another part 
of the fence if it were equally secure/ 

“I saw at once that my companion was hurt. 

“I was sorry that I had asked the question, and I 
told him so. ‘Lucky/ I said, with my hand on his 
shoulder, ‘there’s no one on the entire desert more 
trustworthy than you are. Of course the cattle got 
out some other way.’ 

“ ‘An’ the way was them gypsies/ Lucky dog¬ 
gedly kept to his preconceived theory that a band 
of thieving gypsies were sure to rob us that night. 

“It didn’t seem possible to me, nor probable 
either, but I didn’t tell him so. 

“What I did say was. ‘Let’s get a snack to eat. 
climb Yucca Hill once more and see if there is any 
trace of the herd.’ Of course it would be impossible 
for gypsies to drive them very far in the few hours 
between midnight, when I turned in, and early 
dawn. 

“But Lucky seemed determined to believe the 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 45 


worst. ‘Not if they were headed for the border,’ 
he replied. ‘They’d be across ’afore sunup easy.’ 

“I knew that to be true but decided to take an ob¬ 
servation from the highest of the Three Sand Hills 
as soon as possible. Leaving our horses at the bot¬ 
tom we began the ascent. I had the misfortune 
when half way up to step on an insecure rock, 
which loosened and sent me sliding to the desert 
again. Lucky had kept right on and soon reached 
the top. I heard him shouting as he gestured ex¬ 
citedly. ‘What do you see?’ I called, feeling con¬ 
vinced that it was something which had interested 
him, nor was I wrong. 

“ ‘It’s a tarnel whopper of a sand cloud and ’tisn’t 
Mexico way, neither, so we can take hope from 
that.’ 

“I had scrambled to his side by that time and stood 
shading my eyes from the glare of the rising sun. 
I, too, could see the rapidly moving cloud of sand. 

“ ‘What do you make of it ?’ I asked. 

“ ‘Ah reckon it’s our yearlings all right on a stam¬ 
pede. But what’s puzzlin’ me is how a caravan on 
wheels that’s pulled by mules, as Davie said ’twas, 
kin go ’long fast enough to keep up with ’em.* 

“ ‘It couldn’t,’ I replied, ‘but a bunch of rustlers 
on bronchos could keep up without half trying.’ 


46 VIBGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


“I was heart sick, Virg, at the thought that some 
clever cattle thieves had made away with our prize 
stock. The distance that they had already traveled, 
if they were our yearlings, was so great I could 
have no hope of overtaking them. There was one 
thing that puzzled me. That rapidly moving cloud 
of sand was headed directly for the part of our 
desert that is called Burning Acres. Not a ranch 
nor a water hole for miles and miles and sure death 
awaits man, horse or cattle if they get stranded in 
that barren waste. 

“I was deeply discouraged. However, as we 
descended the hill I said: ‘Lucky, it’s a lost hope 
I guess, but the most we can do is to pack enough 
grub to last a few days, take two extra mounts, all 
the canteens we can carry and head that way.' 

“That’s what we did, which brings the story up 
to the hour of our departure.” 

“Did you find any trace of our yearlings?” Vir¬ 
ginia’s query was anxious, for she knew that herd 
had been the pride of her brother’s heart. The lad 
shook his head. “No,” he said, “we didn’t. We 
rode as far into the Burning Acres as we dared go. 
When our water supply was half gone, we turned 
back, knowing that we would need an equal amount 
on our return trip. We had ridden in silence for 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 47 


some time when Lucky said: ‘Malcolm, Ah don’t 
hold that notion about gypsies any more. Ah 
reckon the thieves was rustlers that knew their 
business. Ah figger the fellow that told that yarn 
to Davie was stringin’ him. Thar wan’t any 
wheeled caravan in these parts, of that Ah’m sure 
sartin/ 

*T was glad that he had come around to my way 
of thinking, but just as we were leaving the Burn¬ 
ing Acres, I saw Lucky, who was in the lead, leap 
from his horse and examine the sand. Then turn¬ 
ing, he gestured, beckoning me to hurry.” 

Malcolm paused. “What had he found?” Betsy 
asked. She was sitting so close to the edge of her 
chair that she seemed in danger of falling off. 

“Well, when I reached the spot,” Malcolm knew 
that what he was going to tell would astonish his 
hearers, “I saw Lucky pointing triumphantly at 
what were unmistakable wheel tracks in the sand.” 

“Brother, do you really think that a band of 
gypsies has ridden into those dreadful dry lands?” 

“I don’t know, Virg. We couldn’t stop to in¬ 
vestigate as we were out of water and so we re¬ 
turned to V. M. As it was noon, we ate the good 
dinner Sing had ready for us and I turned in for 
an hour’s sleep but Lucky could not rest, and so 


48 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


after having had not more than forty winks of a 
doze, I heard him again riding away in search of 
further evidence. 

“It was nearly dusk when he returned and he came 
on a gallop shouting my name. I was out on the 
porch in a moment. ‘Ah think Ah’ve hit a trail 
sure sartin this time/ he called. I saw that he was 
leading my horse and a fresh mount that was laden 
with supplies. 

“Uncle Tex rode in just then and seemed sur¬ 
prised to see that we were starting out so near 
nightfall. He had been to his cabin on Second 
Peak for several days and so had heard nothing of 
what had happened. I didn’t wait to explain, but 
must have mystified him greatly by calling, ‘Keep 
it dark which way we ride/ ” 

Virginia nodded for the old man had told her 
that he was indeed puzzled. “What did you find, 
brother?” she eagerly inquired. 

“The same wagon tracks a mile to the west of 
where we had seen them before, but we could only 
find them in sheltered places. Of course in the open 
they were quickly covered with the drifting sand. 
We hunted for two days and all we found was 
this.” 

He drew a scarlet silk scarf with fringed edges 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 49 


from his leather coat pocket. “That's rather con¬ 
clusive evidence that Lucky is right, isn't it?" his 
sister inquired. “Shouldn’t you say that a gypsy 
woman might have used that scarf as a head cover¬ 
ing?" 

“I don’t know much about gypsies," the lad re¬ 
plied, and the tale being told, he leaned back wearily. 

It was the quiet Margaret who noticed how truly 
tired her guardian looked. “You’ve been over¬ 
working, Malcolm,’’ she said solicitously. “It has 
been a terrible strain for you to keep awake day 
and night with all the worry about the lost year¬ 
lings." 

The lad smiled down at her as he rose. “I think 
we’ll have to change places, Mistress Margaret," 
he said. “I’ll be the ward and you the guardian 
since you look after me so well." The sweet face 
of the girl was flushed, but, as Betsy had at that 
moment twisted the scarlet scarf about her own 
head, no one noticed Megsy. 

When Malcolm was gone, the merry maid 
skipped lightly about on her toes shaking an im¬ 
aginary tambourine. 

“Betsy, you make a very fine gypsy," Babs said, 
then, noting that Virginia sat, quietly gazing at the 
fire as though she were deep in thought, Barbara 


50 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 

rested a hand on her arm as she added, “Virg, this 
means a good deal of a loss, doesn’t it, to you and 
Malcolm ?” 

The young hostess nodded, “Yes, dear, it does, but 
I am more concerned about Malcolm’s anxiety than 
I am about the disappearance of the yearlings. I 
do wish there was something that girls could do 
to help.” 

Betsy had drawn near to listen. “Let's get up 
just as soon as ever we can awaken,” she sug¬ 
gested, “and let’s try to find the wagon trails. If 
only I could solve this mystery, I’d be the happiest 
girl in all the land.” 

Virginia, who understood the desert better than 
did her companions, even those who had visited it 
the year before, hesitated. Well she knew that 
it was very easy for even one desert-bred, to be lost 
in the Burning Acres. Then, noticing how truly 
disappointed Betsy looked, the young hostess con¬ 
ceded. “We can ride as far as the Three Sand 
Hills if you wish.” And with this Betsy had to 
be content, but how she did hope that they would 
go farther, and, Oh, if only she, Betsy Clossen, could 
find the caravan trail and restore the missing cattle. 
Her active brain was planning imaginary clews long 
after the others were asleep and yet, she was the 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


51 


first to awaken as soon as a faint grey light revealed 
the horizon. What would the day bring forth, she 
wondered. 


52 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


CHAPTER V. 

Betsy’s first ride. 

Malcolm, weary indeed with the long hard rid¬ 
ing on the three days previous, did not waken, nor 
did Uncle Tex when, at a very early hour, the four 
girls stole out of the ranch house and, while the 
stars were still shining in the paling sky they skipped 
down to the wrangling corral. In a nearby shelter 
hung the saddles and Virg, with Margaret’s help, 
soon had the four ponies ready to ride. If Mal¬ 
colm had known of their expedition, he would have 
insisted upon accompanying them, not knowing what 
dangers might await them. In fact he had intended 
to warn Virginia not to leave the immediate neigh¬ 
borhood of the ranch until he and Lucky had dis¬ 
covered the hiding place of the mysterious caravan, 
but, although he thought of it after he had retired, 
he reminded himself that it would be time to tell 
them at breakfast. 

Virginia indeed had little hope of coming upon 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 53 


the trail of the rumored caravan, for, during the 
night, a sandstorm had swept across the desert and 
though of but brief duration, it would have ob¬ 
literated whatever tracks had been visible the day 
before. She had thought of explaining this to the 
girls, but, knowing that Betsy would be greatly 
disappointed, she decided to ride with them at least 
as far as the Three Sand Hills. 

This she often did, and, as the hills were sur¬ 
rounded by a vast waste of open desert, she knew 
that unless the gypsies were camped on the other 
side of the hills themselves, they would not come 
unexpectedly upon them. 

Betsy, before she had left school, had expected 
to be timid about riding the western horses but 
Virg chose for her a gentle pony that was well 
broken and so interested was the Eastern girl in the 
quest upon which they were starting, that she 
found that she was not at all afraid. 

The east was beginning to glow with pale rose 
and lilac when the top of the mesa was reached and 
Virginia, in the lead, pointed, as they all drew rein, 
to the Three Sand Hills that loomed dark and 
isolated, standing alone like sentinels on an other¬ 
wise flat expanse of desert. 

Betsy looked up with glowing eyes. “It's won- 


54 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


derful!” she said, “just to see this sun rise on the 
desert is worth a great deal, even if we don't find 
a trail.” 

Then they started on again riding single file. 
Betsy's pony had taken the lead which delighted 
the young rider. 

“It's going to be a glorious day,” Margaret 
smiled back at Virg. “If it weren’t for the lost 
yearlings and the anxiety it means to you and Mal¬ 
colm, I would be Oh, just ever so happy to think 
that we are home again.” 

Virginia was pleased to hear her adopted sister 
call the desert “home.” 

“Dear,” she said, “I am not going to worry over 
the loss nor will Malcolm. Being unhappy and 
making others unhappy never restores the thing 
that is lost. I mean to try to forget it as soon as we 
are sure that the herd cannot be recovered.” 

For a moment they rode on in silence, then Megsy 
looked back again and smilingly nodded toward 
Betsy, who, quite forgetting that she intended to 
be afraid of Western horses, was leaning far over 
in her saddle and gazing at the sand that had been 
ribbed and scalloped by the wind during the night. 
Suddenly she stopped her pony to await the others. 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 55 


“Virg,” she asked eagerly, “are we near the place 
where Lucky first saw the wagon trail ?” 

Virginia had to confess that they were yet many 
miles from the edge of the Burning Acres where 
that trail had been seen. “I’m sorry to disappoint 
you, Betsy,” she said, “but it would be impossible 
for us to ride that far unless we were prepared for 
a hard journey and were accompanied by Malcolm 
or Uncle Tex.” 

They paused at the foot of the group of hills and 
Betsy shuddered as she said, “I don’t know why 
they seem so uncanny to me. Did anything ever 
happen here, Virg, anything spooky?” 

“Why, nothing that I know about.” The West¬ 
ern girl laughed at the eager expression on the face 
of their youngest. “What, for instance?” 

“Oh, some famous bandit might have been cap¬ 
tured and bound to that giant yucca that stands all 
alone on the highest hill, and the masked men who 
had captured him might have stood down here and 
shot him, then silently ridden away while the vul¬ 
tures came with their weird cries to—” 

Megsy put her hands over her ears. “Betsy,” she 
remonstrated, “you’re telling the story of that mov¬ 
ing picture we saw at Vine Haven. My, but it was 
gruesome!” 


56 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


Betsy laughed mischievously but Virg said seri¬ 
ously, 'Those popular pictures give a very wrong 
impression of our desert life, as it really is. Now, 
if the rest of you would like to climb to the top of 
Yucca Hill, I’ll stay here with the ponies. It might 
be hard to catch them if they strayed in search of 
grass, and I do want to get home before Malcolm 
can miss us and be worried.” 

Betsy was scrambling down from the back of her 
patient mount as she replied, “I'm going to climb 
up there, and stand right where the bandit stood— 
and—” 

“Well, go on then.” It was Barbara who spoke. 
“We’ll wait for you down here. I, for one, am not 
pining for such a hard climb before breakfast.” 

“Do you dare me?” the twinkling eyed Betsy, 
asked, her arms akimbo. 

“Double dare!” Babs retorted. Then they all 
laughed to see the speed with which Betsy began 
the ascent, but she soon found that she slipped back 
about as far as she progressed. However, in time, 
she reached the top and holding to the giant yucca 
she waved her other hand to the watching group. 
Then, shading her eyes, she looked long and in¬ 
tently in the direction of the Burning Acres. Sud¬ 
denly she began to beckon wildly. Virginia was 



“It seems to be all wings, and it’s white, isn’t it?” 
(Page 57) (“Virginia’s Ranch Neighbors ”) 










VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 57 


puzzled. “I wonder if she is doing that to tease or 
if she has really seen something of interest.” 

Virg was the first to climb to the top of Yucca 
Hill, Margaret having offered to remain with the 
four ponies. Barbara, breathless, reached them a 
moment later, in time to hear an excited Betsy ex¬ 
claim, as she pointed toward the south, “Virg did 
you ever see a bird as big as that? It seemes to 
be all wings, and it's white, isn’t it?” 

Babs protested. “Goodness Betsy. Did you call 
us way up here and in such a hurry just to show 
us a bird?” 

But Virginia, whose eyes were keener, since she 
was used to desert distances, watched the wide¬ 
winged object which was high in the air, and at 
least half a mile away. 

“If it is a bird, which I doubt, it has hurt one of 
its wings for surely it is not flying in—” she in¬ 
terrupted herself to exclaim: “Oh, I see now! there 
goes one of the little whirlwinds that scud over the 
desert so often. Whatever that flying thing is, it 
was evidently tossed high in the air and is flutter¬ 
ing back to earth.” 

Virg had surmised correctly for, with awkward 
movements of apparently wide stretched wings, the 
something, which had so aroused Betsy’s curiosity, 


58 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


fluttered groundward, but before it touched the 
sand it caught on the arm of a formidable thorny 
cactus which stood near the mesa trail. Laugh¬ 
ingly the girls descended and told the curious Mar¬ 
garet what Betsy’s excitement had been over. 

“And there I had hoped that it might be a clew, ,, 
that maiden mourned, as again, single file, they rode 
back toward V. M. 

“Not a wagon track have we found nor anything 
exciting or even interesting,” Babs began, when 
Virg, being in the lead, called over her shoulder as 
she pointed at the great cactus that appeared near 
the trail not far ahead: 

“There’s your wide-winged bird, Betsy. Noth¬ 
ing but a newspaper that tried to soar for a time 
but failed.” 

Since they were in a hurry to reach V. M. be¬ 
fore the hour which Malcolm had suggested that 
they have breakfast together, the girls did not stop 
to examine the newspaper, but, when they had 
reached the ranch yard, Betsy, who had been un¬ 
usually quiet during the downward ride, suddenly 
exclaimed: 

“Girls, I’m not sure but that we missed a clew, 
after all, when we passed that newspaper. If you 
don’t mind, Virg, I’m going back and get it. How- 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 59 


ever,” and she smiled in a mischievous way, “if it’s 
all the same to everybody, I guess I’d rather walk. 
It’s ages since I’ve been on horseback, and I’m get¬ 
ting powerfully stiff.” 

“If you’ll wait until after breakfast I’ll go back 
with you,” Babs told her friend. 

“Can’t be done, old dear,” Betsy declared. “An¬ 
other whirlwind might come along and where 
would my newspaper be?” 

“Well, do hurry. I can tell by a certain appetiz¬ 
ing fragrance on the air that ham and eggs are 
being prepared, and Oh! but I’m hungry.” 

Betsy acknowledged that she herself was most 
starved, but added that if Babs had the real de¬ 
tective instinct which she possessed, mere eating 
would not even be considered when there might be 
a clew to be had for just a little effort. 

The three girls, having turned their unsaddled 
ponies into the corral, walked arm in arm up to 
the house. Their youngest had already started 
on a run toward the mesa trail. 

“It’s at least a quarter of a mile back to that 
cactus,” Virginia said, “so we needn’t expect Betsy 
for quite a while.” 

But to their surprise, ten minutes later, as they 
were emerging from their rooms, having changed 


60 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


their khaki riding habits for gingham morning 
dresses, they heard a familiar voice shouting with¬ 
out. Then the front door burst open and a most 
excited Betsy waved torn fragments of an old news¬ 
paper as she cried: “It's a clew, it is a clew; just 
listen to this.” 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 61 


CHAPTER VI. 
betsy’s find. 

The girls gathered about Betsy Clossen to gaze 
eagerly at the torn fragments of newspaper when 
that excited little maid burst into the ranch living 
room announcing that she really had found a clew. 

“Where is it? I can’t see anything but plain 
print/’ Babs chattered. 

“How did you get back so soon? Virg inquired. 
“You couldn’t possibly have climbed the mesa trail. 
You’ve only been gone ten minutes and that would 
have taken you half an hour.” 

Betsy laughed. “I had an ally in another whirl 
wind. I hadn’t gone far when I saw torn fragments 
of the same newspaper that had been caught on the 
cactus scudding toward me. Then a gust of wind 
blew sand in my eyes and I had to turn my back. 
I was afraid that I had lost the flying pieces, but 
luckily they had caught on a mesquite bush right 
at my feet. I pounced on them and on the very top 
I found written—” 


62 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


Betsy was holding the pieces back of her and just 
to tease she asked, “Guess what!” 

“Oh Betsy, how provoking you are, must we 
guess?” Babs pondered a moment then said, “May¬ 
be it was something in the Romany tongue. That 
is what they call the gypsies’ language, isn’t it?” 

But the would-be young detective shook her head 
and looked inquiringly at Margaret. “Oh, I never 
could guess, can you Virg?” 

“Hm-m! Let me see. It might be a note scribbled 
by somebody on the Burning Acres, who was trying 
to send a message to tell that he is stranded and in 
need of aid.” 

“I don’t think that is it.” Betsy brought the paper 
around and held it up that all might see. Then she 
pointed at some very fine writing on an upper mar¬ 
gin. “If it were intended for someone else to read, 
it would be larger and clearer.” 

“What does it say?” Margaret inquired. But 
Betsy could not tell. “Why, I thought you told us 
that you were sure that it is a clew to the where¬ 
abouts of the gypsy caravan or of the stolen year¬ 
lings.” 

Betsy was about to defend her theory when Vir¬ 
ginia, who had taken the paper to the window that 
she might better see the very fine writing, exclaimed: 


VIRGINIAN RANCH NEIGHBORS 


63 


“It seems to be a memorandum of some kind. I can 
read several words, but altogether they make but 
little sense. They are ‘five miles beyond/ I can’t 
make out beyond what, then comes ‘turn toward 
mountains/ after that the pencil marks are blurred 
until the last sentence, which is, ‘likely to make a find 
there/ ” 

Betsy whirled toward Margaret, glowing, trium¬ 
phant. “There now, Mistress Doubter, isn’t that a 
clew and a fine one?” 

“Well,” the other maid replied rather reluctantly. 
“It might be, and yet again it might be merely a 
paper that some mining prospector was reading 
when a whirl-wind came along. What you read, 
Virg, would be just about what a miner would jot 
down, don’t you think?” 

The Western girl nodded. “Yes, dear, I believe 
so. Wait until I get the magnifying glass and per¬ 
haps the blurred part will be clearer.” 

While Virg had gone in search of it, Malcolm ap¬ 
peared calling, “Ready for breakfast girls?” Then 
seeing their excited expressions, he inquired: 
“What’s up?” Betsy’s words fairly tumbled out in 
her eagerness to be the one to relate the story of her 
find. The lad took the fragment and looked at it 
intently. “It wasn’t written by the type of pros- 


64 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


pector who usually climbs over these mountains with 
pick and shovel hunting for copper. In fact most 
of them can hardly write at all,” was the lad's de¬ 
cision. 

Virg at that moment appeared, and holding up 
the magnifying glass, she exclaimed, “Now perhaps 
we will find out the secret hidden in that blurred 
writing. ,, 

Even Malcolm believed that Betsy might have 
found a clew and they all bent over the fragment of 
newspaper which Virginia had spread on a table 
near the window. After several moments of intent 
scrutiny, he told the girls what he believed was the 
meaning of the very fine and frequently blurred 
hand writing. 

Betsy was elated. 

“Whizzle,” she exclaimed excitedly, “it is a clew 
after all. A whale of a clew!” 

“Brother, read it again and then tell us what you 
make of it.” Virginia urged. 

So once more Malcolm placed the magnifying 
glass over the torn fragment of the newspaper and 
read the fine writing. 

“Tenderfoot, O. K. Wheels N. G. in desert. 
Ought to have known better. Stuck for keeps, seems 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 65 


like. No ranches in sight. Don’t know what to do 
with—” The paper was torn there. 

“Malcolm,” Virginia began anxiously, “do you 
suppose that the missing word might have been 
yearlings? Has some tenderfoot attempted to make 
away with our entire herd?” 

The lad looked serious but after a thoughtful 
moment he shook his head. “I can’t believe it is 
possible. What paper is this, anyway?” 

“A page from the Chicago Tribune” Betsy told 
him. Then, eager to help solve the mystery, she 
hurried on to say: “Chicago is the place where your 
cattle were to be sold, isn’t it?” 

“Yes, I planned shipping the yearlings in a few 
days. The empty cars are on the side track at Silver 
Creek station this very minute. As soon as Lucky 
and I had them loaded, we were to wire Douglas 
and the cars were to be picked up by the freight that 
night.” 

“I know what Betsy thinks,” Virginia said. “She 
believes that some tenderfoot rustler tried to steal 
the cattle and ship them as his own. Would such a 
thing be possible, Malcolm ?” 

“Possible, but not probable,” was the answer, 

“Then what do you make of it?” Margaret asked. 

“I don’t,” was the smilingly given reply. “But I 


66 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


do know that we will all starve and that Sing Long 
will be on the rampage if we don’t go out and eat 
the fine breakfast he has prepared for us.” 

“Whizzle! I have been so interested and excited 
that I had actually forgotten that I ami almost 
starved,” Betsy declared as they entered the big 
sunny kitchen, at one end of which was a table that 
could seat twelve without crowding, for, on the 
desert, one never knew when a passing cowboy, or 
a group of them, might stop at meal time. 

When the first pangs of hunger had been satisfied, 
Virginia said: “Now brother, tell us your theory.” 

“I’d like to hear Betsy’s first.” Malcolm was much 
amused by the small, bright-eyed girl who took such 
an unusual interest (for one feminine) in the solving 
of mysteries. 

They all turned to listen and so Betsy began. 
“Well, of course I know very little about the ways 
of the desert, but I should think that Virginia’s sug¬ 
gestion, a little while ago, might be the right one. 
But since you doubt it, Malcolm, I’m beginning to 
think that the something the writer didn’t know what 
to do with, might not be the stolen yearlings after 
all.” 

The lad nodded. Then glancing at Margaret, he 
asked, “Who else has a theory?” Flushing prettily 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


67 


as she always did when her guardian addressed her, 
the quiet Megsy replied, “I don’t believe that I have 
one, but I just know that you have, Malcolm. Won’t 
you tell it to us?” 

“I may be wrong,” the lad began, “but, from the 
wording of the memorandum, I believe a boy has 
written it, and surely a tenderfoot, else he would not 
have tried to cross the desert in a prairie schooner, 
if that’s what he has. Maybe he’s here for his 
health. Many a lad finds his lungs in danger after 
years of hard study, and they come out here to rough 
it and get strong again. Anyway, that’s my guess. 
I don’t believe that the writer of this note has ever 
even heard of our lost yearlings.” 

“Hark!” Virginia cried, springing up and running 
to the door. “What’s all the commotion outside?” 

There was indeed a most unusual commotion not 
far away, but, from the kitchen window nothing 
could be seen but the sandy door-yard, the chicken 
corral, the outhouses and farther down the slope and 
near the dry creek, the adobe cabin of the Mahoys. 

Malcolm, at once on the alert, caught his sombrero 
from its place near the back door. He leaped from 
the porch without taking time to descend the steps, 
and, before the astounded girls could speak, he was 


68 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


racing for the corral that was down in the valley-like 
hollow near the towering red windmill. 

“Girls!” Virg had listened but a moment when she 
whirled, her cheeks burning, her eyes glowing, 
“Don't you know what it means, that bellowing of 
cattle and shouting of men?" 

“It sounds like a round-up to me,” Barbara ven¬ 
tured. 

“It is! It surely is! Oh, if only someone has found 
the lost yearlings." The four girls were running so 
fast that Virg had not breath to finish her sentence. 
A second later they reached the top of the trail and 
in the depression below them, they saw something 
which filled their heart with rejoicing. 

“The yearlings! Oh how happy Malcolm will be," 
Margaret cried. “Virg, you too, how glad you must 
be!" 

“How do you suppose it happened?" Betsy was 
tremendously interested, this being the first time she 
had witnessed the driving in of a restless herd of 
cattle. 

“Slim found them," Virg said. “See Megsy, how 
cleverly he herds them toward the open gate of the 
corral. There’s one that is trying to make a break." 

“Goodness that wild one has turned. It’s charg¬ 
ing right at that cowboy. Slim, did you call him?" 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 69 


Betsy had her hand on her heart and her eyes ex¬ 
pressed terror, but Virginia laughed. “That’s 
nothing unusual. Watch what happens.” 

It was quite evident that the young cowboy, Slim, 
had his eye on the angry young steer that had 
stopped to paw the ground and snort in a most 
threatening manner. The boy drew rein and coiled 
his rope. Lucky and Malcolm were also in the 
saddle and they were trying to quiet the remainder 
of the herd and drive them into the corral. Slim 
backed his horse, all the time swinging his rope and 
keeping a watchful eye on the snorting young steer. 

“Whizzle,” Betsy clutched Virginia’s arm and 
held tight. “I wish Slim would look where he is 
going. He may back his horse right over that cliff 
and into the dry creek.” 

“Don’t worry, dear. Slim knows every step his 
horse is taking even though he isn’t looking. If I 
didn't know how that cowboy of ours can ride, I too, 
might be worried. There, now watch!” 

Angered beyond endurance by the whistling of the 
rope as it swung round and round the head of Slim, 
the enraged creature which knew in someway that 
this cowboy was depriving him of the freedom of 
the range, made a sudden lunge, his head bent to 
bowl over whatever it first struck. 


70 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


Betsy screamed, but the lowing of the restless 
cattle drowned her cry. “He’ll be thrown! Why 
doesn’t Slim do something?” 

“He is waiting his time,” Virg said quietly. “See 
how his pony leaped to one side. They’re well 
trained, those wiry bronchos.” 

Malcolm and Lucky, having driven the remainder 
of the herd into the corral, had closed and barred 
the gate. Malcolm, however, stood there ready to 
swing it open if the rebellious steer should be headed 
that way, while Lucky rode out to assist Slim if his 
services were needed, but they were not, for once 
again the young steer plunged, the rope sung through 
the air, and catching the forefeet of the animal, sent 
it with a thud to the ground. 

The loop of Lucky’s rope caught about its neck. 
Then, when Slim’s rope had loosened, the creature 
scrambled to its feet, and, half stunned, permitted 
itself to be led and driven into the corral. Then the 
gates were again closed. 

“Now tell us, where did you find them ?” Malcolm 
asked Slim. 

The good looking young cowboy removed his 
sombrero, wiped his hot brow with his red bandana 
handkerchief and then burst into unexpected 
laughter. 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 71 


^Well, Malcolm,” he chuckled, “Ah reckon that 
thar dod-busted steer that’s been so plumb ram- 
pagious this mornin’ was at the bottom of the whole 
thing.” 

“Then you don’t think that gypsies tried to steal 
them?” It was the first time that Betsy had addressed 
Slim. 

He had not noticed the young stranger. Virginia, 
noting his expression of surprise exclaimed, “Betsy, 
this is Slim our prize broncho buster and sure shot 
roper.” 

The young cowboy laughed disparagingly. “Don’t 
take no stock in all a-that, Miss Betsy,” he said. 

“Oh, I know it without being told,” was the young 
girl’s eager response. “Didn’t I see you rope that 
wild steer with my very own eyes.” 

Malcolm, anxious to know where the cattle had 
been found turned the subject back to the point 
where it had digressed. 

“No, sir,’twant gypsies nor yet again cattle thieves 
that let the yearlings out of their pen. ’Twas that 
wild one himself.” 

“But, Slim, that doesn’t seem probable or possible 
for the fence was not broken and the cattle cannot 
open the gate,” Malcolm was saying when Betsy 
who had turned to glance at the corral in which the 


72 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


restless herd was pacing back and forth, uttered a 
cry of warning. 

“Look! Quick! Slim is right! That wild steer is 
pushing the bar.” 

With a variety of expletives the cowboys leaped 
forward and were in time to prevent a second es¬ 
cape of the herd. 

For sometime after that, they were engaged in 
making the fastening of the gate more secure. The 
girls remained as interested spectators. When Mal¬ 
colm at last straightened up, he turned to them and 
said with his pleasant smile, “And so, Mistress Betsy, 
we are doomed to disappoint you, for there really 
isn’t any mystery to unravel after all.” 

But Slim had again removed his sombrero and 
he was thoughtfully rubbing his glossy brown hair. 
Suddenly he turned toward the little stranger. 

“Ah say, Miss Betsy, what was that thar you asked 
me in the beginning. ’Pears to me like ’twas suthin’ 
namin’ gypsies.” 

“Yes, it was.” Then eagerly, hopefully. “Mr. 
Slim, you didn’t see anything of them while you were 
hunting for the cattle, did you ?” 

“Wall now, I reckon mebbe I did and yet agin 
mebbe, I didn’t. Ah’m not tolerably sartin’, but I 
saw suthin’ mighty perplexin’.” 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 73 


Then inquiringly to Malcolm. “You-all don’ fig- 
ger that any copper diggers’d be loony enuf to cross 
the desert in a wagon, do you?” 

“No, indeed. I'm as good as certain that they 
wouldn’t,” Malcolm began, when Betsy hopped up 
and down and clapped her hands as she interrupted. 
“Oh! Oh! tell us quick, Mr. Slim, did you see the 
wagon? We’ve been hunting for it everywhere.” 

The cowboy was so plainly puzzled that Virginia 
told him the story of the gypsy caravan as Davie had 
told it to Malcolm and Lucky. 

“Wall, all as I saw was tracks headin’, seemed like 
toward Puffed Snake Water Hole. But Ah was 
driving the herd in jest then an’ couldn’t leave to do 
no investigatin’.” 

“Good! I’m glad they were heading away from 
V. M. Ranch, whoever they are.” Malcolm said 
then added: “Boys, I think we’d better all three drive 
this herd in to the station. It’s going to take some 
skillful handling to get them aboard the cars. It’s 
nine now and I expected to get them loaded by this 
time.” Then anxiously. “Slim, you’ve had a hard 
time of it this past twenty-four hours. You ought 
to get some sleep before we start.” 

“Caint spare the time, Malcolm. Ah reckon thar’ll 


74 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


be enough for sleep when this here herd is boxed 
up in the car. Ah reckon thar will.” 

Lucky had been silently watching the restlessly 
lowing heard. “Malcolm,” he said, “we’d better 
start, ’pears like. That wild one’s got to wear a drag 
to keep it from boltin’, an’ that’ll make it plumb slow 
goin’ for the rest.” 

“Right you are,” the young master of V. M. 
replied. “We certainly don’t want to take any 
chances on a stampede today, since the cars are 
scheduled to be picked up by the through freighter 
tonight at seven.” Then, turning to his sister, he 
added. “Virg, will you girls pack us some grub and 
we’ll start as soon as we can get the herd in shape.” 

“Indeed we will.” Then catching the hands of 
two of her friends and nodding to the third, away 
she ran toward the ranch house. 

“Oh, I just adore all this,” Betsy exclaimed 
an hour later when the girls, having packed the saddle 
bags with good things until they bulged, stood out 
on the front veranda watching the three cowboys 
as they drove the still restless herd up over the mesa. 

“That poor wild steer will wish he had been less 
obstreperous,” the quiet Margaret said. “He can 
hardly take a step without stumbling over that long 
pole that drags between his front legs.” 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 75 


“I like him,” Babs surprised the others by remark¬ 
ing. “I like his spirit. Somehow a desire for free¬ 
dom seems to belong to the desert and his surely is 
unquenchable, but next week he will be—” 

“Oh, do let’s forget that part of it.” Virginia 
spoke with unusual seriousness. “I hate it.” Then 
noting the expressions of inquiry, she explained. “I 
don’t understand in the least what makes me feel 
so queerly about it. Nevertheless, I do. I don’t be¬ 
lieve that we have any right to take that wonderful 
thing, Life, from any creature to which it has been 
given. We may find sometime that we have been 
doing something grievously wrong. But there,” she 
added in a gayer tone, “since I am the part owner of 
a business that raises live stock for the sole purpose 
of taking life, it hardly behooves me to moralize 
about it.” 

“Does Malcolm know that you feel that way?” 
Margaret asked. 

Virg shook her head. Then slipping her hand in 
ftiat of her friend, Megsy, said earnesly, “I agree 
with you. I’d heaps rather raise beets to sell.” 

A merry laugh greeted this remark, and then 
Betsy, who was never long content with just con¬ 
versing exclaimed. “Virg, let’s do something inter¬ 
esting right after lunch.” 


76 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


Virginia smiled. “I was going to suggest that 
we all take a siesta.” Then she laughed at the dis¬ 
may pictured in the face which a moment before had 
been so eager. 

But the youngest was not to be daunted. Whirling 
toward Barbara, she wheedled. “Babsie, you don’t 
want to sleep, do you ? Let Megsy and Virg siesticate 
if they wish, but suppose you and I go for a ride.” 

“I’ll make a bargain with you, Betsy.” It was 
Virg who was speaking. “If you’ll be as quiet as a 
little mouse and let us, who wish to nap until three, 
we’ll all go for a ride anywhere you choose.” 

“Oh, will you, honest injun, cross your heart!” 
The would-be little detective seemed more eager than 
before and the reason was that she wanted to get 
Virginia to promise to do something without telling 
her what it was. 

The unsuspecting older girl nodded, then as the 
bell was ringing they all went in to lunch. Betsy 
lingered back of Virg and beckoning Babs she 
whispered something in her ear. “Oh, Virg won’t 
do that,” Barbara told her. 

“But she’ll have to. You yourself heard her 
promise to ride this afternoon in any direction that 
I wish and I’m just wild to go there.” 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 77 


CHAPTER VII. 

A PLANNED RIDE. 

Directly after lunch, Virginia, Margaret and 
Barbara retired to their rooms for the customary 
afternoon nap which seemed to be as much a part of 
desert life as anything else in the routine. The sun 
beat down upon the shimmering white sand relent¬ 
lessly during the noon hours and all live creatures 
were glad to seek the cool of some shadow or to 
hide in underground burrows if that was according 
to their nature. 

Betsy, unused to sleeping during the day, had de¬ 
cided to take that time for letter writing. She was 
wild to tell her Cousin Bob, who was fourteen, of 
all the exciting things which had befallen her since 
her departure from boarding school such a very 
short time before. 

How he would envy her. Virg had suggested 
that she write at the big old desk which stood on 
the shady side of the long living room and there. 


78 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


for a quiet hour the little girl sat scribbling as fast 
as her pencil would fly and the story of her ad¬ 
ventures was so thrillingly told that the boy, who 
was to receive it, would indeed be envious. She 
had just concluded with—“Virg hasn’t any idea 
where I am going to suggest that we go for our 
ride when she wakes up, but of course she’ll have 
to go because she has promised. I’m ever and ever 
so sure that an exciting adventure awaits us and 
I’ll add it to this letter before I send it. There’ll 
be plenty of time, anyway, for the mail pouch is 
only taken to the station about twice a week.” 

It was at this point in the epistle that the three 
girls, who had been asleep, appeared and they were 
dressed in their riding habits. 

“You’ll have to don yours, Betsy,” Babs called. 
“HI wait for you. Virg and Megsy are going 
down to the corral to saddle our horses.” 

While the young would-be detective was chang¬ 
ing her apparel, Babs sat on the arm of a chair 
watching her. “Virg has forgotten all about her 
promise to you,” she volunteered. “I heard her tell 
Margaret that she wanted to ride over to Hog 
Canon and see the poor dry ranchers who live there. 
She has brought some gifts for the three children 
and their mother.” 


r 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


79 


“Oh dear, isn’t that just too provoking. I did so 
want to ride in the direction of that Puffed Snake 
Water Hole and see if we could find the gypsy 
caravan, but, of course, if our hostess has other 
plans, I suppose I’ll have to give up mine, only I 
don’t think she should have promised. Honestly I 
don’t” 

Babs hardly knew what to say. “But dear, you 
can visit that water hole some other time, maybe 
tomorrow. Wouldn’t that do as well?” 

“Why, of course not Babs. You know as well as 
I do that if we are to get there before that gypsy 
caravana moves on, we’ll have to go today. 
They’re not going to just camp out there and wait 
to be found.” 

“Well, you’ll have to be the one to remind Virg 
of her promise. I won’t. I heard her say that the 
little woman who lives over in Hog Canon is very 
frail and that she has brought her some things that 
she needs just dreadfully.” 

Betsy sighed as she laced the riding boots that 
Virg had loaned her, but all she said was “What’s 
a dry rancher anyway? Someone who’s awfully 
poor I judge.” 

Babs nodded. “Yes indeed. Mr. Wallace, 
‘Foolish Andy,’ I’ve heard him called, is certainly 


80 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


not prosperous. Dry ranching means trying to get 
along without water except such as can be caught 
in a cistern during the rainy season. There's no 
water for the few head of cattle they have except 
in water holes. I guess they’re poor enough all 
right." 

Betsy stood up clothed, but only partly resigned 
to the seemingly inevitable. “Virg would rather go 
on a visit of mercy any time than try to unravel a 
mystery which shows how different we are," she 
confided to her companion as they ran down the 
trail that led to the corral where the others awaited 
them with the four ponies saddled and ready. 

A small pack-horse near had on its back two sad¬ 
dle bags well packed. “Here you are." Virg sang 
out, then noting an expression of disappointment 
in the face of their youngest, the hostess recalled 
something. “Oh Betsy," she said self-rebukingly," 
I completely forgot that you were to choose the di¬ 
rection of our ride this afternoon and here I have 
packed Old Stoic with food and gifts that I want 
to take to the Wallace family over in Hog Canon. 
Well, I can unpack him again if you wish me to 
keep that promise. 

“My only reason for wanting to go today is that 
the children have heard that I am home from school. 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


81 


Slim told them, and they sent word that they’re 
wild to see me, and Slim said I should have seen 
poor Mrs. Wallace’s expression when she heard it. 
He said that it was as though she had heard some¬ 
thing that was going to give her a new lease on life. 

“But of course one day more won’t matter if you 
wish to hold me to my promise.” 

“I should say not, Virg!” Betsy spoke em¬ 
phatically. “I was merely going to suggest that we 
go over to that Puffed Snake Water Hole Mr. Slim 
told about and see if we could find the gypsy car¬ 
avan. But it might be a wild-goose chase.” Vir¬ 
ginia laughed. “It would be, I can assure you. 
The odors around that water hole are such that 
even gypsies wouldn’t linger there long. They are 
miles and miles away by now.” But Betsy inter¬ 
rupted. “Virg, how can they be? Don’t you re¬ 
call what the writing on the newspaper said. 
‘Stuck for keeps.’ No ranches in sight.” 

“Then there’s no use visiting the Puffed Snake 
Water Hole for one can plainly see Slater’s Ranch 
from there. Now the question is,” Virg looked 
from one friend to another, “which way shall we 
go? Of course we can visit Hog Canon tomorrow 
and—” 


82 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


“Indeed not! I’m not as selfish as all that. We’ll 
visit Hog Canon and your poor family today, then 
tomorrow we’ll hunt for the gypsy caravan.” 

Little did Betsy dream what her decision would 
lead to. 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 83 


CHAPTER VIII. 

OLD STOIC. 

Single file the four mounted girls rode down the 
trail which led across the dry creek bottom for a 
time and then ascended the rather steep opposite 
bank. The fifth horse “Old Stoic” followed faith¬ 
fully. When they were again on the level trail, Virg 
in the lead, smiled over her shoulder. Betsy just 
back of her was evidently deep in thought. 

“What are you puzzling about now, little mystery 
solver ?” she sang out gaily. 

Betsy looked up brightly. “I’m trying to solve 
three things at once.” 

Babs and Megsy rode up, and, as the sand was 
hard enough to permit, they continued in a group 
which was better for conversation. 

“What are they? And how are you succeeding?” 
Each maid asked a question. 

Betsy laughed. “I’m wondering what Puffed 
Snakes are. I’ve heard of rattlers and copper heads 
and—and water snakes, but never Puffed ones.” 


84 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


“Guess!” Virg turned to say. 

“I don’t have to guess because I know.” Margaret 
smiled at Betsy. “Use that good brain of yours. It’s 
ever so easy. It isn’t the kind of snake. It’s some¬ 
thing that happens to it.” 

“Hm. Let me see. It’s the name of a water hole 
with a dreadful odor.” Betsy seemed to thinking 
hard. Suddenly she laughed. “Oh, of course, that’s 
easy! A snake fell into the water hole, couldn’t get 
out and puffed.” 

“Righto!” Virg had whirled her pony and to the 
great admiration of the other girls, was riding back¬ 
wards. 

“What was your second puzzle ?” Babs asked. 

“Why this picturesque place ahead of us in the 
mountains, should be called Hog Canon ?” 

“Oh, that is too easy,” Megsy declared. 

“Probably because some former dry rancher tried 
to raise hogs,” Babs suggested. 

“You are nearly right, but not entirely so. It was 
Nature itself that raised the little wild hogs that 
‘abounded,’ as the story books say, in these moun¬ 
tains, but they are gone now or nearly so.” 

“Goodness, you don’t mean the kind that I’ve 
seen in pictures with tusks that look so dangerous.” 

“No, not wild boars. These were very small 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 85 


creatures, I've heard father say, but they were all 
gone when brother and I came to the desert to live. 
Now what is your third puzzle.” 

“Why you named your pack horse Old Stoic.” 

“All you have to do is to look at him and that 
mystery is solved. He hasn’t a spark of fire in his 
eye, he has never been known, within the memory 
of the oldest inhabitant, to do anything but plod. I 
guess the colt in him vanished years ago.” 

The girls all turned to look at the pack horse that 
was following them but it deigned not to return their 
notice. It did indeed seem to be stolid and stunned. 
Suddenly Virginia began to laugh. She was riding 
ahead by that time and the others pressed forward 
to hear the cause of her mirth. 

“What’s the joke, Virg,” Betsy said, “Let us all 
in on it. Is it something about Old Stoic?” 

Virginia nodded. “Yes, it is,” she said merrily. 
“I believe after all I have wronged the old horse. I 
recall now that brother modified his statement that 
nothing could stir an interest in Stoic. There was 
one thing he said that could.” 

“What was it?” Betsy was always curious about 
everything. None of the girls had a brain more 
eagerly alert. 

“A bear! Malcolm said that Old Stoic can smell 


86 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


a bear farther than any horse he ever rode and run 
faster to try to get away from it, but apart from 
that, he shows no sign of interest in life except in 
(doing his duty as a pack animal and doing it well. ,, 

Betsy looked anxiously toward the rugged Seven 
Peak Range which they were approaching. “I say, 
Virg,” she said, “there aren't any bears in the moun¬ 
tains these days are there?" 

Then the questioner sighed with relief when she 
heard the reply. 

“No, dear, nary a one, or so few that one seldom 
if ever appears. I did hear Lucky say last winter 
that he saw bear tracks in the snow way up north 
in the higher, colder mountains, but I don't believe 
they come down this way now-a-days. They did, 
though, when Lucky was a boy. His father was a 
trapper and exciting tales he can tell. We’ll get him 
to recount the most thrilling of them for us some 
night when we’re all sitting around the fire.” 

The girls having ridden for several miles without 
stopping were glad, when Virg suggested that they 
stop awhile in the shade of a giant cactus. Dis¬ 
mounting, she ran back to Old Stoic who had 
stopped with the others and slipping her hand into 
one of the saddle bags she brought out four oranges. 
“I’m not robbing the Wallace family,” she smilingly 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 87 


told them, “for I put these in here just for our very 
own refreshment. I knew we’d all be hot and 
thirsty by the time we reached this half-way point.” 

The girls were indeed glad to eat the sweet juicy 
fruit. Betsy, unused to the saddle was also pleased 
to have a chance to stretch her legs, and so, slipping 
from her mount, she threw herself down on the 
sand, warm even in the shade of the cactus, but she 
was on her feet again almost as quickly when she 
heard Babs laughingly caution her. “Look out for 
tarantulas and scorpions.” 

“Too, you might be lying directly over the hole of 
a rattler,” Megsy added. But Virg protested. “Let 
the poor girl rest. There isn’t a poisonous creature 
in our immediate neighborhood, I’ll vouch for that.” 

But Betsy would not lie down again. Pretending 
to want to make the acquaintance of the pack horse 
she walked back toward where he so patiently stood, 
half dozing. Patting him on the head she said. 
“Old Stoic, if there’s a rattler or a tarantula, a scor¬ 
pion or anything else startling or unusual around, 
you let me know won’t you.” Then she cried trium¬ 
phantly. “Look girls, he’s nodding his head. He 
is intelligent after all. He just assumes that dull 
uninterested expression for reasons of his own. 
Maybe he’s a detective. That’s just the way Dad 


88 VIRGINIA'S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


does when he’s in a group where he expects to over¬ 
hear something of great importance. He acts as 
though he were intently thinking of something far 
away.” 

The listeners laughed. “Honestly Betsy, I doubt 
your theory in this case. I don’t believe Old Stoic 
thinks. He seems to just plod, but now if you’re all 
rested enough, we’ll up in the the saddle and away.” 

“Whizzle, but it’s hot, hotter, hottest!” Betsy ex¬ 
claimed when they had ridden a mile farther on their 
way. 

“Or, as the story books say, ‘The relentless 
tropical sun beat down upon the lone traveler and his 
beast of burden. Nowhere about him on the vast 
sandy waste could he see a sprig of vegetation that 
would suggest a life-saving oasis—’ ” 

“Oh’Babs, have a heart! I’d heaps rather have you 
speil about ice cream sodas and cool things like that 
if it’s all the same to you.” 

Virg smiled back over her shoulder. “Perhaps 
we ought to have waited for a cooler hour,” she said. 
“I forgot that you Eastern girls are not as used to 
our Arizona sun as I am, and, I’ll confess, it is rather 
warm, but there’s hope ahead, for in just a few 
moments we will have sighted the canon up which 
we will soon be riding.” 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


89 


Betsy drew her sombrero farther down over her 
eyes, and then peered ahead through the air that 
was quivering with the heat. 

The canon which they were nearing did not look 
inviting. There were no green growths that would 
have suggested a cool brook flowing down among 
them, only bare jagged rocks with here and there a 
scraggly mesquite bush growing in the cracks of 
rock where sand had gathered. 

“Well, I don’t wonder the neighbors call the 
gentleman who choose that canon as his dwelling 
place 'foolish,’ she remarked with a little disdain¬ 
ful grunt. 

“Oh, but that isn’t his chief folly, or rather, not 
the one for which he is noted far and wide,” Vir¬ 
ginia looked over her should to inform them. 

“Why is he called Foolish Andy, Virg? I’ve often 
wondered,” Megsy inquired. 

“It’s because he is an inventor. He is very well 
educated, and seems always to be inventing some¬ 
thing which he is sure will bring his little family 
fame and fortune. Mrs. Wallace tells me that they 
were comfortably well off, once upon a time, but 
that all they could save had been squandered on one 
invention after another and they became poorer and 
poorer until now they can hardly keep alive, but 


90 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


nothing seems to quench Mr. Wallace’s faith in his 
inventive powers. I heard brother say that the in¬ 
strument he is now trying to perfect, he believes 
will not only bring him the money he needs but be a 
great boon to mankind, or at least to that portion of 
it that chooses the desert places for a home.” 

“What is the instrument, Virg?” Megsy inquired. 

“It’s some very sensitive mechanism that is sup¬ 
posed to locate water and that is why Mr. Wallace 
choose the driest section of the desert in this neigh¬ 
borhood. He particularly likes Hog Canon, and his 
theory is that since it was, once upon a time, over¬ 
run with small hogs, there must then have been 
water. He believes, that the stream took to flowing 
underground as they so often do in Arizona and that 
his instrument will locate it. Then this land, which 
he has taken up, homesteaded I mean, will be in¬ 
valuable. Brother says he is right about that, but 
the other ranchers have no faith whatever in his in¬ 
vention. At least it hasn’t succeeded. Mr. Slater 
is a very wealthy, progressive man and when the 
Wallaces first moved here, he took an interest in the 
instrument. When he was about to have a well dug 
for his new windmill, he sent for Mr. Wallace to 
help him locate a spot where he would be sure to 
find water. Fate was against the inventor, for the 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


91 


very spot where an excellent well has been dug, the 
instrument reported no water. That is why the 
poor man, who still clings to his faith in the inven¬ 
tion is called ‘Foolish Andy’.” 

“He ought to be put in an insane asylum,” was 
Betsy’s indignant verdict. “The very idea of his 
being permitted to bring such misfortune on the 
heads of his innocent wife and children. Why 
doesn’t she leave him?” 

“For the simple or rather wonderful reason that 
she loves him and has faith in him,” Virginia re¬ 
plied, “but, unfortunately, if he ever does succeed, 
I fear it will be too late for his wife to share in what¬ 
ever prosperity will follow. If they don’t find water 
very soon now, the little woman will have slipped 
away. Slim tells me that she seems to be holding to 
life by a thread. That will mean three more chil¬ 
dren left motherless in the world.” 

Betsy flared. “I just hate that selfish man! I’m 
sorry we came! I know I won’t be able to speak 
civilly to him.” But Virg remarked, “You’ll be sur¬ 
prised to find how different he is from the man you 
have pictured. Now, here’s where we turn to enter 
the canon. Why, what is the matter with Old 
Stoic?” The girls whirled in their saddles to look 
at the pack horse. To their amazement they saw 


92 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


that it had stopped and was staring at the dark en¬ 
trance of the canon ahead with a look of fear, ears 
thrown back and every muscle quivering. 

“Oh, it must be a bear,” Betsy cried, when, with 
a shrill frightened whistle, Old Stoic turned tail to¬ 
ward the mountains, and, burdened though he was, 
raced across the trackless sand, but not toward home. 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 93 


CHAPTER IX. 

WAS IT A BEAR. 

“Do you think old Stoic saw a bear ?” Margaret 
asked as the girls, puzzled indeed, by the faithful 
creature’s strange and unexpected behavior sat in 
their saddles, two of them gazing anxiously into the 
dark entrance of the canon, while the third, Virg, 
watched the flight of their pack animal. 

“Oh I can’t believe it possible that there is a bear 
about,” she said. “We are very near the Wallace’s 
cabin now, that is, it’s not more than half a mile 
away and bears do not venture near settlements if 
they know it.” 

“Maybe this one is a big grizzly and maybe he’s 
eaten the Wallace family all up and perhaps be 
coming now to—” 

Megsy laughed at the wide-eyed Betsy. “To eat 
us, I suppose you are going to say. But honestly, 
dear child, if he has eaten five Wallaces and their 
burros, I don’t believe he’ll have much of an ap¬ 
petite for delicacies like us.” 


94 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


Betsy turned rebuking eyes. “I don't see how 
you can joke at a time like this when maybe some¬ 
thing terrible is about to happen.” 

Virg was relieved to see that the pack horse had 
come to a stand-still in the shade of a giant cactus 
about an eighth of a mile away. “Girls,” she sug¬ 
gested, “would you like to wait here until I go and 
get Old Stoic or—” 

“What!” Betsy fairly screamed. “We stay here 
when any minute a bear or something is going to 
come right out of the canon? Nixie for mine. 
Where you go, there I’ll go too.” 

The other girls could not keep from laughing 
which further increased the indignation of their 
youngest. “Laugh if you want tQ,” she said, “but 
didn't Virg tell us herself that Old Stoic never 
showed sign of fear except when a bear was near ?” 

Their hostess agreed. “I’ll confess I did. That 
is what brother told me, but of course there must 
be something else that can frighten our faithful 
pack animal.” Then with sudden animation and 
pointing toward the mountains a little way beyond 
them, Virginia cried: “Look! girls, look!” 

Every one gazed, expecting to see something very 
unusual, Betsy alone was convinced that it would 
be a huge grizzly. 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 95 


“Why, that’s nothing but smoke.” Babs spoke 
regretfully. She had almost hoped that it would 
be a bear for she knew, what Betsy did not, that 
they were harmless unless cornered or attacked. 

“Why Virginia, surely Old Stoic isn’t afraid of 
smoke, is he ?” Margaret turned inquiringly toward 
her adopted sister. 

“No indeed! Brother always takes that pack 
horse with him when he goes to the mine and they 
have camp fires every night.” 

“What do you suppose this smoke means? A 
camp?” Barbara began when Betsy interrupted 
eagerly,” “Oh Virg, maybe that’s where the gypsy 
caravan is stuck. Do you suppose it might be?” 

Virginia shaded her eyes and gazed long at the 
jutting point of rock which hid from their sight 
whatever was beyond it. “It’s a fire of course,” 
she told them. “Shall we ride over and see who 
is camping there?” 

“Oh yes, let’s!” Betsy was her old brave self 
again. She had no fear of gypsies nor of cattle 
rustlers she was sure, though she had never seen 
any of them except on the screen. 

A short gallop took them to a point where they 
could see the fire. Virg, in the lead, uttered a cry 
of surprise, then turned and beckoned. “It is the 


96 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


gypsy caravan, or at least it is a covered wagon, 
like a prairie schooner of the olden days, I should 
say, but there seems to be no one around. Shall we 
go closer ?” 

“Of course!” This emphatically from Betsy. 
“Haven’t I been wild—crazy to find this very cara¬ 
van, and you don’t suppose I’d leave without see¬ 
ing the gypsies. Anyway, aren’t they in trouble? 
Don’t you remember the hand-writing said 'Stuck 
for keeps. No ranches in sight’.” So Virg laugh¬ 
ingly led the way toward the apparently deserted 
covered wagon. 

“We’re wrong about one thing,” the young mis¬ 
tress of V. M. remarked. “This is not the caravan 
that was stuck, for the wheels are quite free, at 
present, anyway.” 

“I wonder where the gypsies are.” Betsy was 
dismounting as she spoke. “I’m going up to their 
front door and knock,” she informed the others. 
This she did pounding loudly on the wooden sides 
of the wagon. A low growl from within was the 
only answer but it was sufficient, as Betsy said 
afterwards, to make her hair stand on end. With 
a shrill cry she took to her heels and where she 
would have gone, it is hard to know, had she not 
suddenly been confronted by a girl of about sixteen 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 97 


who had leaped from between the flaps of the tent¬ 
like covering. Her expression was at first puzzled, 
then merry and apologetic. 

Holding out her hand to Betsy, she exclaimed. 
“Oh, do forgive us for having given you such a 
dreadful scare when you came to call.” Then her 
sweeping glance, which held an inquiry, included 
them all. “You have come to call, haven’t you?” 

Virginia had dismounted and the other two girls 
did likewise. “We did not really start out with that 
intention, we’ll have to confess,” she said, with her 
friendliest smile, “because you see we did not know 
of your existence.” Then, fearing that this was not 
quite truthful, she concluded. “That is, we did, and 
we didn’t.” 

Noting the puzzled expression in the fine face of 
the girl she was addressing, Virginia told the whole 
story of the tale that the station master’s boy had 
told of the large caravan of thieving gypsies, and 
of their subsequent loss of cattle, their search for 
the caravan, the finding of the wagon trail and then 
the newspaper with its message. 

“Oh, Brother Gordon must have written that. 
We were stuck for a day and a night but some pros¬ 
pectors, I think they were called, came along and 
dug us out. We’re on our way back to Douglas 


98 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


now, but weVe stopped here to get water and fill 
our canteens. Oh good, here comes brother. He's 
been up the canon where the prospectors told us we 
would find a rancher who had water in a cistern.” 

A tall lad, too pale to be a real Westener, ap¬ 
peared on a loping run from the canon beyond. 
“No luck, sister,” he had started to say when he 
saw the three strangers and their horses. 

“We have guests,” the girl called happily. Then 
to the others: “You can't guess how glad I am to 
see someone of my own age and I’m just wild to 
know who you are and where you came from. 
Can’t you stay and have supper with us ? We have 
it very early and it’s now after three.” 

The lad came up and snatching off his hat, he 
stood waiting for his sister's invitation to be ac¬ 
knowledged, but not accepted, as Virg told them 
that their home was some distance and that her 
brother would be troubled if he returned from Sil¬ 
ver Creek and found her not there. “But now since 
we have met so informally, let's introduce our¬ 
selves,” she concluded. This was done and the four 
visitors found that instead of gypsies, the two were 
the son and daughter of a copper magnate whose 
name was very familiar to Virginia, since he it was 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 99 


who owned many of the mines and smelting found- 
eries in Douglas and Bisbee. 

"We are truly tenderfoots, ,, the girl, whose name 
was Annette Traylor, told them, “for our home is 
in New York City and we have never before been 
on the desert where our dad came from college to 
prospect so many years ago. He's always telling us 
tales of his adventures and so this year, when 
brother broke down in his freshman year at Yale, 
dad said the best thing for us to do would be to 
visit his old haunts on the desert. He was coming 
West to inspect some mines and as he was to be 
busy for about two weeks, he put us in the care of 
an old man whom he had known years ago and told 
him to show us the sights." 

“Then you’re not alone ?” Virginia looked about 
for a guide but saw no one. 

Annette smiled. “Yes, we are, quite alone and 
unprotected. You see it happened in this wise. We 
hadn’t been gone more than a day from Douglas 
when Old Piute, as Dad called the guide who was 
part Indian and the rest French, got sick, and so 
we sent him back. He didn’t want to go, but we 
could easily see that he was too ill to travel, so 
we gave him the money Dad had promised him if 
he returned us safely to Douglas in two weeks. 


100 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


Then we gave him one of the burros in our train 
and he sadly rode away. We could see him shak¬ 
ing his old grizzled head until he was out of sight. 
Brother declared that a youth who was wise enough 
to go to Yale ought to be wise enough to drive a 
team of wirey horses over the desert. You see 
where we made the mistake was in not minding 
Old Piute. He told us to keep to the roads where 
autos travel, but brother thought there would be no 
adventures along a beaten way and so he turned out 
into the open desert and the third day we stuck." 

The lad laughed in a hearty boyish manner. 
“Well, I'm glad we did since we met one of the 
most interesting characters I ever knew outside of 
the ‘Dick Dead-eye’ books and, too, we acquired a 
bear." 

“A what?" Betsy’s eyes were big and round. 

The lad nodded. “Yes indeed, a real bear. The 
old miner had had him since his cub-hood days and 
he’s as tame a pet as one could wish to see." 

Virginia laughed. “Which brings us back to the 
first part of our visit to you." Then she told about 
Old Stoic and how he had evidently smelled the 
bear and had taken to his heels. Gordon Traylor 
was delighted. “Great Stuff," he said inelegantly. 
Then added, “Miss Virginia, loan me your horse 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 101 

and I’ll bring back the truant member of your 
band.” 

Virg shaded her eyes and remarked. “Good, 
He is still patiently waiting in the shade of distant 
cactus, and while you are gone, we’ll get better ac¬ 
quainted with your sister.” 


102 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


CHAPTER X. 

A VISIT TO HOG CANON. 

Half an hour later the girls saw Annette’s brother 
returning, leading the faithful old pack animal who 
had evidently forgotten his former fear and was 
plodding along with his usual lack of interest in all 
about him, until, as they neared the mountains a 
breeze evidently carried the scent of the creature he 
so feared. 

However the lad had been expecting this very 
thing to happen and he was on the watch. At the 
first movement of Old Stoic, Gordon had whirled in 
his saddle and was holding firmly to the rope by 
which he was leading the pack animal. 

But try as he might to persuade, to assure, to com¬ 
mand, the stolid creature would not move. He did 
not attempt to run away but having planted all four 
feet squarely in the sand, mule fashion, there he 
stood and would not budge. 

Laughingly Virginia leaped to her horse’s back, 
and galloped out to lend what assistance she might. 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 103 


She patted Old Stoic, assured him that it was only 
a tame bear and was not in any way a creature to 
be feared, but the stubborn animal blinked and 
winked his expressionless eyes and just stood. 

‘Til tell you what,” Virg suggested. “Let’s lead 
him away from your camp. There’s a trail up to the 
Wallace cabin from beyond that jutting out rock. 
It’s about an eighth of a mile from here and as the 
wind is not blowing in that direction, I believe Old 
Stoic will soon again forget the near presence of a 
bear.” This was done. The small horse began to walk 
when Gordon pulled him in another direction. When 
the watching girl observed that the pack animal was 
willing to be led to the point she had indicated, she 
said that she would ride back to the covered wagon 
and tell the girls to accompany her. Although Gor¬ 
don had recently visited the cabin in the canon in 
search of water, he had seen no one but the boy Peter 
who had gloomily told him that they didn’t have 
any to spare. 

The lad having always had a secret desire to be an 
inventor, and having, in fact, won the admiration 
of his boy friends by fashioning all kinds of me¬ 
chanical devices for toys in his own shop, was very 
eager to see the man who had a vision which he 
could not fulfill. 


104 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


“May Annette and I go with you?” he asked 
eagerly. 

“Why, of course, you may. We’ll be glad to have 
you. You will like poor Mr. Wallace. He is very 
lovable in spite of his queerness.” 

Meanwhile Betsy having been permitted to peep 
at the tame bear (which to her thought had growled 
at her in a manner most untame) was glad indeed 
when Virg rode up and told them all to accompany 
her. Single file they rode up the narrow rugged 
trail, Virg in the lead and Gordon last that he might 
still hold the guiding rope attached to Old Stoic not 
knowing at what minute the wind might change and 
startle the pack animal into flight. 

As they neared the shack-like cabin, half hidden 
by overhanging boulders, Virg gave a call with 
which she always heralded her approach. Instantly 
three children ran pell mell to the top of the trail, 
their homely freckled faces shining with their joy 
at seeing the good angel friend whom they had so 
missed. 

Little Jane, aged sx, hopped up and down so fast 
(clapping her hands all the time) that her two braids 
bobbed merrily. 

Thoughtful eyed Sara, who was so like her faith¬ 
ful mother, smiled too, but made no move of wel- 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 105 


come although her heart was just as glad. Twelve 
year old Peter raced to meet them down the trail and 
catching Virginia’s bridle, he looked up with ado¬ 
ration in his red-brown eyes. “Oh, Miss Virgie,” he 
cried, “Ma’s been that eager to have you come home 
from the East. Often I’ve heard her say, 'Somehow 
things will be better when Miss Virginia comes’.” 

There were sudden tears in the eyes of the girl, 
and reaching down she put her hand over the small 
brown one on her horse’s head. 

“I’m glad to get home, Peter. How are your 
mother and dad?” 

There was a shade of anxiety on the boy’s freckled 
face. “Pa’s been took queer this very day,” he said 
looking up toward the cabin as though he feared he 
might be overheard, “and Ma says now with the 
water most gone, she just doesn’t know what we are 
to do. There weren’t any late rains and the cistern’s 
most empty.” 

“Dear boy, your mother must not worry about 
that. There’s plenty of water at V. M. and you are 
welcome to all you can carry.” But the girl’s heart 
was heavy for even as she made the offer, she knew 
that there would be no convenient way of packing 
water so many miles across the desert. 

Having dismounted on the small flat space which 


106 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


served as a dooryard, the others turned anxiously 
to Virg. “Ought we to remain,” Annette Traylor 
inquired. “If the Wallaces have this new trouble, 
we might be intruding.” 

But Gordon stepped forward and said earnestly, 
“Miss Virginia, I would like to meet Mr. Wallace. 
I believe that I can be of service to him.” 

Mrs. Wallace, more pale and fragile than when 
Virg had gone east to school appeared in the door¬ 
way and Virginia went forward to greet her. The 
girls saw her bend and kiss the sunken cheek and 
were touched at the light of tenderness in the face 
of the older woman. 

It was evident that the girl was inquiring about 
poor Mr. Wallace. “I don’t know what has hap¬ 
pened exactly. Something that discouraged him so 
much that he just gave up and ever since he’s sat 
there in his chair around on the north side of the 
cabin and staring into space, though once in a while 
he does say something, but it’s about his instrument 
and I don’t understand.” 

Meanwhile Gordon had seen the listless figure of 
the man, and, with an earnest desire to be of service, 
he had walked toward him. 

“Good afternoon, Mr. Wallace,” the boy said, 
hoping to attract the attention of the inventor, but 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 107 


the dreamy grey-blue eyes of the thin, kindly-faced 
man did not move from what seemed to be one 
definite spot farther up the canon. 

The boy, noting that the girls had gone in the 
cabin with the mother, sat on a rock near to wait 
until a more opportune moment to again address the 
man who seemed deep in thought. 

At last, in a voice that seemed infinitely sad, the 
inventor spoke. “I’ve failed! I was so sure it could 
be done, but now, I know the truth. I’ve failed!” 

“In what way have you failed, Mr. Wallace ?” 
Again hopefully the boy ventured a remark. 

This time the dreamy grey-blue eyes turned to¬ 
ward him. “I was sure there was a hidden spring 
up there/’ he said more to himself than to a listener. 
“ But the instrument doesn’t show water and I won’t 
dynamite until it does.” 

Gordon, more interested than he thought wise to 
show, asked, “Mr. Wallace, may I see your instru¬ 
ment ?” 

The older man nodded and pointed toward a long 
narrow wooden box on the ground near. 

Reverentially the lad knelt and lifted the cover. 
There lay an instrument of delicate mechanism. At 
the sight of it, the inventor’s eyes burned and lean¬ 
ing forward he said, Gordon thought almost an« 


108 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 

grily, “Give it to me! I’ll break it into a thousand 
pieces. I’ve given my life’s blood to try to perfect 
it, I’ve caused untold suffering to my wife and chil¬ 
dren, but, God knows, I meant no harm. I had 
faith in it. I dreamed that a fortune would be theirs, 
everything, everything, schooling for the kiddies, 
Peter was to go to Yale where I went.” 

Gordon was on his feet at once, and, grasping the 
thin hand of the man, he cried in boyish glee, “I say, 
Mr. Wallace, I’m bully glad that you went to Yale. 
And don’t you worry. It’s always darkest before 
the dawn, you know that. Peter’ll make college. 
Everything will turn out all right. You see if it 
doesn’t. Don’t give up. Keep your faith.” 

The dreamy eyes had turned toward the boy when 
he began this enthusiastic outburst, and in them 
there gradually dawned a light of understanding. 

“Who are you?” the man inquired as one awaken¬ 
ing from a sleep. “I haven’t seen you before, 
have I?” 

“No, Mr. Wallace. I’m just passing this way, 
but I’m ever so interested in your invention. Won’t 
you come up to the spot where you are sure there is 
water, or ought to be, and show me how it works.” 

There was a sudden renewed eagerness in the eyes 
of the poor man who had been so scoffed and laughed 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 109 


at “Why, would you really like to see it work?” 
he asked as though hardly able to believe his ears. 

“Wouldn't I though,” the lad had hold of the 
man's hand and was firmly lifting him to his feet. 
Then he added confidentially, “I'm something of an 
inventor myself in a small way. I say, Mr. Wallace, 
I’ll bet you have a good thing there. May be it needs 
a little different adjusting. Let's try it out.” 

It was pitiful to see the joy in the dim eyes of the 
man who had failed. Here was someone, what if 
only a boy, someone who had faith in him. With 
shaking hands he lifted the instrument he had a 
moment before threatened to break into a thousand 
pieces, and with an eagerness he had never again 
expected to feel, he led the way up, up the canon 
with a sureness of step that amazed the lad who had 
such a brief time before pitied his weakness. 

“Are you good for a stiff climb?” the man turned 
to call. “There's a wall of rock ahead that's as per¬ 
pendicular as a barn door, but there's no way but to 
go up over it to reach the spot which I am sure long 
years ago was the source of a water way. See! See!'' 
he cried excitedly. “Now, you know why I am so 
sure there has been water here.” 

The lad, looking ahead at the huge bohlder, saw 
on its surface a smooth, many-colored groove which 


110 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


could only have been made by running water. “It 
wasn’t much of a volume, I’ll agree, but there was 
water, but where is it now?” Then again inquiring¬ 
ly, “Do you think you can climb it?” 

“Certainly, sir, if you can,” the boy replied, 
amazed though that the*man so recently weak, could 
even think of making the attempt. 

“Well, then, follow me closely. I’ve been up so 
many times, I know just where the indentures in the 
rock will serve for steps.” 

The lad inwardly confessed that it was an almost 
impossible feat, but if one Yale man could accom¬ 
plish it, he assured himself, then so too could an¬ 
other. 

At length they stood above the boulder and saw 
that the canon had narrowed until the rocks over¬ 
hanging on one side often touched the opposite wall. 

“There’s a hidden spring, I am convinced, some¬ 
where about here,” the man’s eyes were no longer 
dreamy but shining with the light of rekindled faith. 

“I believe you are right, Mr. Wallace.” The lad 
leaped to a spot where he saw another of the 
smoothed grooves in the rocks. “Let’s try it here.” 
he suggested. The instrument was set up, and Mr. 
Wallace explained that if there were water, it was 
his hope that the sensitized swinging needle would 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 111 


dip and point toward it, but it made no movement at 
all. 

The lad on his knees was watching it intently. 
Looking up he saw the old expression of dispair re¬ 
turning to the ashen face of the man. That would 
never do. Hope must be kept alive. 

“I say, Mr. Wallace, don’t you think maybe that 
needle’s held too tight ? Have you ever tried loosen¬ 
ing that minute screw there? Gee, but I’d jolly like 
to try that experiment.” 

Almost mechanically the inventor put his hand in 
a large leather pocket and drew out an infinitesimally 
small screw driver. “Do what you wish,” he said 
as he sat upon a flat rock and leaned his head on 
his hands. “I’ve failed. Not that I have any reason 
to be sure that there is water here, but it did not 
move over at Slaters and there was water.” 

While the man talked, the boy, with heart beating 
like a trip-hammer, was actually praying for inspira¬ 
tion while he loosened ever so little the tiny screw 
that held the sensitive needle. But even then, it did 
not stir. 

“I say, Mr. Wallace, may I take it higher up? 
Way to the very top of the canon?” 

The older man shook his head. “No use, son. 


112 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


There aren't any watermarks farther up and its al¬ 
most impassible.” 

“But, may I try?” 

A silent, resigned nod was the only answer and 
so securing the instrument, the lad carefully climbed 
over boulders, higher and higher. At last he stopped. 
Mr. Wallace had spoken truly, there were no signs 
of the water marks that had been made, no one knew 
how many years before. Retracing his steps, he 
turned a little to the right. Something seemed to 
impell him to stoop and look into a fissure where a 
boulder, perhaps ages before, had been rent asunder 
by some tremendous power, an earth-quake, without 
doubt. 

It was an almost impossible feat to hold himself 
so that he could thrust the instrument into the fissure, 
but he did it, and with a startling suddenness, the 
sensitive needle dipped straight down. 

“Mr. Wallace! Mr. Wallace! Come quick! I've 
found the spring.” 

The boy's triumphant cry rang out, reverberating 
down the canon and penetrating even the again 
dulled senses of the inventor. Not for one moment 
did the boy doubt that the needle was telling the 
truth. 

Unable to wait for the older man to climb to him. 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 113 


Gordon fairly leaped down from rock to rock, 
though he wondered afterwards at the sureness with 
which he had stepped, and catching the man’s hand, 
he dragged him up, up until the fissure was seen in 
a perilous place beyond and below. 

“Why son, you couldn’t get down there. No one 
could,” the man said. 

“But I did! See! I just chanced to find the way. 
I guess my guardian angel showed it to me. The 
instrument’s in that fissure and the needle dipped. 
Mr. Wallace, it dipped straight down. Oh, if only 
we had some dynamite.” 

The boy’s faith was just the spur the older man 
needed. “There’s dynamite in a cavern just below 
here,” he said. “Wait, we’ll bring a stick and shoot 
it off.” 

The boy secured the instrument and took it to a 
place of safety. 

“We’ll have to make a long fuse,” the man told 
the lad. “We don’t want to take any chances with 
flying rock.” Then he looked at the sun. “We 
ought to get back to the cabin in half an hour. I’ll 
time it for about then.” 

This was done and then the two scrambled back 
down the rocks. How Gordon hoped the fire of the 
fuse would not be extinguished. Too, he hoped the 


114 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


explosion would not take place before they reached 
the girls least they should be too greatly frightened. 

During the absence of the man and boy, Virginia 
glanced often at her watch. She did want to see 
Gordon before she left to thank him for having 
procured her pack animal and to urge him to bring 
his sister to V. M. before returning to Douglas. She 
was sure that Malcolm would wish her to do so. But 
the afternoon was wearing away and, as they did 
not return, the girl at last arose saying: “I fear that 
we cannot wait longer.” Then to the little mother, 
whose expression was much happier than when the 
visitors had arrived, she said, “Tell Mr. Wallace 
how sorry I am, not to have seen him this time, but 
I shall come again and often, and do remember, dear 
Mrs. Wallace, the V. M. Ranch house is large and if 
you run out of water in a few days, as you fear, I 
want you all to come to us until your cistern can be 
refilled.” 

There were tears of gratitude in the eyes of the 
frail woman. “I don’t understand why it is,” she 
said, “but now that you are here, Miss Virgie, I feel 
confident that all will be well, somehow.” 

They were out in the plateau-like dooryard and 
each girl had a horse by the bridle which was lucky^ 


VIRGINIAN RANCH NEIGHBORS 115 


when a deafening report like thunder boomed 
through the mountains. 

“W-what was that?” Betsy cried in alarm, but 
Mrs. Wallace at once quieted their fears, for it was 
a sound she had often heard. “It’s my Peter 
dynamiting for water,” she said sadly. “But he 
won’t find it. He never has.” But little Peter whose 
eyes had been afire with enthusiasm has raced to¬ 
ward the canon bed and was seen waving and beck¬ 
oning frantically. “Ma,” he shouted, “I hear it. I’m 
as sure as anything that I hear water.” 

The girls listened and far up in the canon they 
heard a rushing sound that came nearer and nearer, 
then they heard something else. A shout of triumph, 
then a man and boy appeared and in the face of the 
inventor was light, an inner radiance of great joy. 

He seemed to see no one but the wife he loved. 
Going straight toward her, with arms outstretched, 
he cried, “Molly, Molly, little girl! We’ve succeeded 
at last, you and I! Thank God your days of privation 
are over.” Then turning to the lad he said, “But I 
can’t call it all my invention. It was your thought 
that perfected it. I’ll share with you.” But the boy 
exclaimed, “Mr. Wallace, you alone are the inventor 
of that instrument. It would have been only a matter 


116 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


of time before you thought to make the slight 
change that I suggested.” 

Then, although it seemed as though they just 
must stay to rejoice with their friends, Virginia 
was reminded by the lowness of the sun that she 
must start on the homeward way. 

Annette and Gordon decided to remain in their 
present camp until the morrow. Then, although 
they would like nothing better than to visit V. M., 
the lad decided that he did not care to chance being 
stuck again in the sand and so he accepted Virginia’s 
advice that he start out for Slater’s Ranch early the 
next day. 

“Mr. Slater is the richest man on the desert. You 
will have no trouble reaching his place,” the girl as¬ 
sured him, “and from there into town is one of the 
best roads anywhere to be found as he keeps it up 
himself, or rather he has the peons in his employ 
constantly working on it.” Then, holding out her 
hand to Annette, Virg said, “If your father is not 
ready to return East, we shall be glad to have you 
and Gordon visit us. If you will send us word, we 
>vill come for you in our car.” 

Two hours later, when the girls were dismounting 
near the corral at V. M., Betsy said, “Well, wasn’t 
that all just like a story book adventure?” Then go- 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 117 


ing to the pack horse, she patted him as she laugh¬ 
ingly said, “And, although he doesn’t know it. Old 
Stoic was the hero.” 


118 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


CHAPTER XI. 

LETTERS OF INTEREST. 

The girls had reached home just in time, for 
hardly had they removed their sombreros when 
there arose a shouting without and a pounding of 
horses' feet. 

“Good, the boys are back," Babs cried running 
to throw open the wide front door. 

“Ohee, what a bulging mail bag," Betsy who 
had closely followed shouted gleefully. “There 
must be a million letters or more in it.” 

Malcolm swung from his tired horse and giving 
it a friendly slap, bade it go to the corral with its 
companions. Lucky and Slim, as he knew, would 
attend to its needs. 

“We had a close call." Malcolm tossed his som¬ 
brero on the table, placing the mail bag beside it, 
then sank wearily in his favorite grandfather chair. 

“What happened?" Virg inquired with interest. 
“Did that wild steer try to lead a stampede even 
with the drag on?” 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 119 


“No, not that,” her brother replied. “The poor 
creature seemed to have lost all desire to make a 
break for freedom. The close call was that when 
we drove the herd into the corral at the station, 
Mr. Wells came running up and said that he had 
just received a wire that the cars were to be taken 
on by a freighter that was due to arrive two hours 
sooner than scheduled, and didn’t we work though. 

“Then was the time the young steer might have 
made trouble had he but known. However, he 
didn’t attempt it, but walked up into his prison as 
meekly as a sheep would have done.” Then the 
boy laughed, “I suppose you’ll think I’m foolish, 
but I certainly had a decided impulse at that mo¬ 
ment to give him his freedom. It came over me 
how I would rejoice, were I in his place, if I once 
again found myself roaming where I would, out on 
the range with only the blue sky above me and the 
distant mountains for walls. Luckily the freighter 
came along before I had carried out my sentimental 
inclination, else our check would have been that 
much less, Virg, when it comes from Chicago.” 

Margaret, remembering what Virginia had said 
about hating to raise cattle just to have their free¬ 
dom taken from them, realized that something of 
the same sentiment was in the heart of the brother, 


120 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


although he had not fully realized it as the girl had. 

“You look just too weary for words, Malcolm,” 
Megsy said, leaping up from the window seat. 
“I'm going to make you some lemonade.” 

“Make enough for Lucky too, will you? Slim 
won’t need any. He’ll be dead to the world before 
you could get a lemon squeezed. He hasn’t had 
on hour’s sleep in two nights and a day.” 

“I’ll help.” Babs skipped by the side of her 
friend kitchenward. 

“And while you’re gone, I’ll sort the mail.” Vir¬ 
ginia was emptying the contents of the leather 
pouch out on the long library table as she spoke. 

Betsy watched eagerly. Suddenly she pounced 
on a large envelope addressed in a boy’s hand writ¬ 
ing. “It’s from Cousin Bob, sure certain! I won¬ 
der if they’re still quarantined. If so I ’spect this 
letter has been—what do you call it—fumigated.” 

“Two for Babs and two for me and not one for 
Megsy. That’s too bad. I hope she will not feel 
left out,” the youngest said, but Virg glanced up 
smilingly. “No indeed! Margaret is too generous 
and loving to ever feel neglected or left out. That 
is a form of selfishness. Then, more-over, all of 
Megsy’s home people are right here, for, you know, 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 121 


Betsy, she belongs to us. Malcolm is her guardian 
and I am her adopted sister.” 

“I hear a jingle approaching,” Malcolm rose as 
the little pitcher bearer entered the room. He went 
forward ostensibly to ca^ry it, but he took the op¬ 
portunity to say softly, “I'm mighty glad my little 
ward is home again.” 

The flush which always mounted to the quiet 
girl's cheeks when this lad addressed her made her 
unusually pretty, but, as yet Malcolm had given it 
no thought. Virg had been the only girl he had 
ever known intimately and he supposed a certain 
reserve, which Margaret surely had, was respon¬ 
sible for the pretty flush. 

“Any mail for me?” Babs was following with a 
tray on which were five tumblers. 

“Two letters and both from boys or I miss my 
guess.” Betsy was peering at the letters that lay 
side by side on the table. 

“Then it is easy to know who they are from.” 
Babs having passed the tumblers, picked them up 
and looked at them curiously. “This one is from 
dear old brother Peyton. “Then lifting an eager 
face she addressed her hostess. “Virg, I hope you 
won't think I’m lacking in appreciation of your 
hospitality if I say that I’d like to ride over to my 


122 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


brother’s ranch tomorrow. I’ve made you a real 
long visit.” 

“Three days isn’t an eternity!” Betsy put in, but 
Megsy said: “It seems like one sometimes, when 
one is separated from home folks.” 

“You are right,” Virg said, slipping a loving arm 
around the waist of the pretty friend who was 
sometimes called “The Dresden China girl.” “We 
would love to have you stay longer with us, but I 
know you must be ever so eager to see Peyton.” 
To herself the thought came, unbidden. “And so 
too am I.” Then to her brother. “Why isn’t Pey¬ 
ton here Malcolm? I thought surely he would be 
at the train to meet us with you.” 

The boy drank the lemonade gratefully before he 
replied. “I don’t know, sister. I have been expect¬ 
ing to hear from him for a week. I did hear in a 
round-about way, that is one of Mr. Slater’s cow¬ 
boys passing V. M. last Friday week, stopped and 
took dinner with us. He said Peyton was having 
some trouble with his Mexican herders and didn’t 
think best to leave them, although he was inclined 
to believe that a new one, who had recently arrived, 
might prove more trustworthy than the others had. 
But suppose you read your letter, Babs. That may 
tell us what you want to know.” 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 123 


It did, for in it Peyton told his sister that he had 
deeply regretted not having been at the station and 
then he related his reason, which was much the 
same as that which had been reported by the Slater 
cowboy. 

But it was the last part of the letter which caused 
a stir in the little group. 

“Much as I want to see you, dear sister, I’m go¬ 
ing to ask you to remain at V. M. a short time 
longer or until I am sure whether or no there is 
going to be an outbreak among these Mexican 
herders. I am writing Virginia today to ask her 
to permit my little sister to be her guest a few days, 
perhaps a week longer. By that time I will know 
how much I can rely on my new overseer. You 
understand, Sis, I wouldn’t want to ride over to 
V. M. and find, when I return, that these peons had 
driven my prize cattle across the border, nor would 
I want you and your friends to come here until I 
am sure that my herders are not of the bandit class. 

“I hope you are disappointed, however, for selfish¬ 
ly I very much want my sister to come and open up 
the old house that she is to make into a home for 
her loving brother. Peyton/” 

Virginia looked at Malcolm with an expression 
of anxiety. “Do you feel that Peyton is in any real 


124 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


danger ?” she asked. “If an outbreak of any kind 
should occur, I mean. ,, 

“No, I think not,” Malcolm replied. Then Virg 
read her own little letter from Peyton whom she 
had once known as “Trusty Tom,” but that former 
time was never referred to by any of them. 

Megsy noticed that her adopted sister did not 
read aloud her letter from the brother of Barbara, 
and she believed that she knew why. It was not 
hard for even a casual observer to notice how sin¬ 
cerely the lad admired Virginia. 

“Well, then that’s settled,” the hostess smiled 
lovingly at Babs. “Now we may keep with us a 
certain little girl whom we all love.” “Why Bar¬ 
bara,” Margaret then exclaimed as she noted a look 
of real concern on the pretty face, “what has Benjy 
written to make you seem so troubled? Has he 
found his mother worse?” 

“He didn’t know when he wrote this. It’s just 
a few lines that he scribbled at the station in Red 
Riverton. You know he expected his brother 
Harry Wilson to meet him, and he wasn’t there but 
his own horse had been sent for him. Benj is just 
ever so sure that means his mother is not so well. 
I do hope she will live. I never knew two boys to 
care more for a mother than they do.” 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 125 


“She is such a lovable, motherly woman/’ Vir¬ 
ginia said earnestly. “Everyone who knows her, 
loves her. She always reminds me of a hen with 
a brood and even when the chickens are away, she 
is sort of spreading her wings with a welcome for 
any one in trouble who needs their comforting 
shelter, but it’s nearly a year now that she has not 
been well.” 

“It’s too bad that Harry doesn’t seem to care to 
marry. If only Mrs. Wilson had a nice daughter 
to take the responsibility of home-making for a 
time, she could get a real rest.” 

Virginia astonished the others by saying, “Girls, 
surely you know that Harry does care for someone, 
but I’m afraid his mother would never willingly 
accept that someone for a daughter,” Margaret 
said. “I, too, have felt sure that Harry cares for 
our wonderful Winona, as who, knowing her well, 
does not. She is one of the noblest characters I 
have ever met, and I know you think so too, Virg.” 

“Indeed I do,” was the emphatic reply, “but one 
can understand how a mother might feel that a 
member of the Papago tribe would not be a suitable 
wife for her idolized son, but Winona would. 
They are more nearly kin, mentally and—and what 


126 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


shall I say, in their love for the wide spaces of the 
desert, than any two I ever knew. You know 
Harry likes nothing better than to ride far away 
into the mountains studying the rocks and trying 
to read the messages of the ages in the different 
formations. Had he been able to leave home, he 
would have studied along those lines. Of course he 
is, even now, and what is more, our Winona is the 
very first girl who has ever appealed to him as a 
companion.” 

“Isn’t it about time Winona finished that course 
of practical nursing that she was taking when she 
left us at boarding school?” It was Barbara who 
asked the question. 

Virg nodded, then for the first time glanced at 
the second letter that she held. “Oh, good, this is 
from our Winona and since it was written on the 
train, she may be in her walled-in village home this 
very minute.” 

“May we all hear what she has written?” Babs 
asked. 

“Of course,” Virginia made herself comfortable 
on the window seat and then began to read. Mal¬ 
colm, having excused himself, had retired to his 
own room for a much needed nap. 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 127 


Dear White Lily: 

At last I am homeward bound glad, deep in the 
heart of me, that I have learned a way to be of real 
service to my father’s people, who, having lost faith 
in their old Medicine Man, had no one to whom 
they could take their little ones when they were 
hurt or ill. 

I shall be there in two days, and, dear friend, 
I am not alone. With me is a comrade of my child¬ 
hood, but I must tell you how it all happened. 

One day when I went on duty, I found in the 
ward much excitement for a lad who was being 
called brave had been brought in and no one knew 
who he was. He was too exhausted to be conscious 
it seemed, for he had no real illness and so could 
not tell about himself. 

The story was that in one of the city tenements 
a plague broke out which terrorized the neighbor¬ 
hood. Many became ill and those who were not 
strong died. It was so terrible a plague that few 
volunteered to help. Kind old Doctor Quinton gave 
his services and risked his life but alone he could 
do little. It was when he was completely worn out 
that this youth, who said that he was a medical 
student, volunteered to take the place of the good 
doctor while he took a much needed rest. Nor 


128 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


would the lad leave his post when the older 
physician returned. They were too much occupied 
with real service to ask who he might be or from 
where he had come, but, at last, he too had suc¬ 
cumbed, not to the plague but to weariness and they 
had brought him to the hospital. 

I listened to the story and said that I would like 
to see the lad who had been willing to sacrifice his 
life for humanity. 

White Lily, when I saw him, so thin and tired, 
lying on a cot in the ward, I knew him at once. It 
was Fleet Foot, one of the Papago boys who accom¬ 
panied the kindly missionary who had taken three of 
our lads as you recall, to a school for Indian boys. 
I had not seen him since that long ago day, but he 
had changed little. 

You, White Lily, will know what finding Fleet 
Foot meant to me, for is he not one of my father’s 
people? I cared for him as tenderly as a sister 
might. Then the good doctor took him to his coun¬ 
try home, that he might grow strong away from the 
noise of the city, but, when I had finished my 
course, Fleet Foot wished to return with me to our 
village and so together we are now nearing the end 
of our long journey. Will you not soon ride north 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 129 

to our village and remain with me as long as you 
wish. 

My friendliest thoughts I send to Margaret and 
Barbara if they are with you. 

Your Winona. 

At the close of the letter, the four girls were all 
thinking the same thing but it was the quiet Mar¬ 
garet who voiced it. “Poor Harry!” she said. 
“For of course this Papago lad, who is of her own 
people, will be the one Winona will love and even¬ 
tually marry.” 

“I shall be sorry if this is true,” Virginia re¬ 
marked, “for Harry Wilson is so unlike other boys. 
He may never again find just the companion he 
wishes.” 

Then, as the dinner gong was sounding, the girls 
sprang up to hastily remove their khaki suits and 
don their house-dresses. 

Meanwhile what of the neighbors farther north? 


130 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


CHAPTER XII. 

BENJY ARRIVES HOME. 

In the meantime when Benjy Wilson left the 
train at Red Riverton, he glanced about anxiously 
hoping that his brother Harry would be there to 
meet him. He had been the only passenger to de¬ 
scend to the platform and, almost at once, the sta¬ 
tion master hurried up to him to say that his brother 
had been in a few days before and had told him to 
keep on the watch-out for Benjy. “He said he 
mightn’t be able to get in to meet you an’ if he 
didn’t, you’d find yer little horse Clipper over to 
the stables waitin’ for yo\” Then the kindly man 
searched in the pockets of his blue denim coat and 
drew from one of them a letter. “Likewise he left 
this for you to sorto’ explain things.” 

“Thank you, Mr. Hendrix. I’ll go at once after 
Clipper,” the boy said with a break in his voice, 
which drew from the sympathetic old man the 
query. “Yo* ma wan’t any worse last yo’ heard, 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 131 


was she? Hal was in a hurry t’other day, I 
didn’t get to ask.” 

“I’m afraid mother isn’t very well,” then fear¬ 
ing that he would cry from dread and loneliness, 
(never before had his older brother failed to meet 
him), the lad picked up his bags and hurried away 
toward the stables that were just beyond the sta¬ 
tion. 

The boy naturally happy and optimistic was 
sadly troubled. The pony was glad indeed to see 
his young master and showed it in every way that 
he could. 

It was not until the town had been left behind 
and Benjy was riding on a desert trail that he 
opened the letter which the station master had given 
him. With tear dimmed eyes he read: 

'‘Dear Ben, 

“I have not wanted to worry you needlessly and 
I have not been sure, (even now I am not sure), 
that there is real need for alarm, but I decided that 
I must warn you before you arrive, that you may 
be prepared for a great change in our mother’s ap¬ 
pearance. She was strong and well when you left 
eleven months ago, but now she is frail and wearies 
at the least exertion. I am telling you, not to 


132 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


frighten you, (for it may merely mean that our 
mother is growing older or that she needs a com¬ 
plete rest), but I want you to be prepared for the 
change so that you will not exclaim about it when 
you arrive. It would be a great shock to our father, 
who, (perhaps because it has come so gradually), 
seems as yet unconscious of it. In mother’s own 
brave, cheerful way, she hides it from him. When 
he comes home each night, weary from a hard day’s 
work on the ranch, she is always at the head of the 
table, with her bright smile, and a good supper is 
waiting. Of late I have managed to ride home an 
hour earlier each night that I might help to prepare 
it. 

“The one thing which has prevented my being 
greatly worried is mother’s own attitude in the 
matter. She insists that there is nothing radically 
wrong; that she is merely tired, as one often is in 
the spring, and she laughingly, said last night: 
‘When little Benjy comes home, I’m going to play 
fine lady for a fortnight. Then you will see how; 
well and strong I will be.’ 

“Ben, old pal, don’t take this letter too much to 
heart, but I do think best to have you prepared for 
the change in the mother who is our all. If I were 
sure that I could get to the station to meet you, 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 133 


would not have written this. I’ll be there if I can 
possibly make it. 

“Your brother, Hal.” 

But he hadn’t been there. 

As the boy rode along over the hard sand trail 
he thought of his quiet, dependable brother, who 
was so like their mother. 

“Hal would have come if he could possibly have 
made it,” he said with a half sob, as he realized the 
probable meaning of his older brother’s absence. 

“He never promised to do a thing in all his life 
but that he did it.” Then the lad’s thoughts re¬ 
turned to his little boyhood, when he had learned 
that the older brother’s word could be trusted un¬ 
failingly. 

“If Hal promised to make a kite or whittle a top 
on the first stormy day that we were shut in, he 
never forgot it, never tried to get out of it. Quite 
the contrary, Hal would be the first to say: ‘Bring 
along your kite materials, little Ben. This is the 
day I promised I’d make one for you.’ 

“I’m going to be just like him,” Benjy thought. 
“Mother is right. The man you want for a friend 
is the one you can trust.” 

The first half of the ride was over level desert 


134 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


trails that had been beaten hard by cattle and 
horses, but farther on the way grew rough and 
rocky and there was a high rugged mountain range 
to be crossed, for, on the other side, lay the wide, 
sheltered valley belonging to the Wilson ranch. 

Reaching the water-hole about noon, Benjy dis¬ 
mounted to permit his horse to drink. 

Again in the saddle, he petted the beautiful 
pony’s head. “Gipper, old pal,” he said in a tone 
of sympathetic understanding, ‘‘I’m sorry to ask 
you to climb High Pine Mountain trail without 
giving you a chance to rest before we start upgrade, 
but I’ll have to do it this time. I’ll make it up to 
you, though, old pal, you see if I don’t.” 

The pony seemed pleased to feel his young mas¬ 
ter’s caress. He tossed his head, looked back over 
his shoulder and whinnied a reply. It was at that 
moment that the horse stepped on a rolling stone, 
scrambled madly to keep his foothold, stepped off 
the narrow, ascending trail and rolled with his 
rider into a shallow ravine. The fall had been but 
slight and Benjy leaped to his feet unhurt, but Clip¬ 
per arose with more difficulty, and when he at¬ 
tempted to walk he limped and held his right fore¬ 
foot as though it pained him. 

Poor Benjy felt as though everything was 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 135 


against him, but, just at that moment he seemed 
to see his dear mother’s face and to hear her say 
as he so often had, “Benjy, Boy, courage wins.” 

“I know it, mother,” the lad replied aloud with a 
half sob, and putting one arm around the pony’s 
neck he choked back the tears that had tried to 
come, as he said, “I’m awfully sorry you’re hurt, 
Clipper. I ought to have let you rest for a while 
at the water-hole. I guess we’ll have to keep going 
somehow, but I won’t ride you. If you don’t have 
to carry a load, don’t you think you can climb the 
trail, old pal?” 

Clipper, looking at his young master, whinnied 
again, but, though he tried he could not walk with¬ 
out pain. 

Just at that moment, Benjy heard a pounding of 
horses’ feet. At first he thought it might be a herd 
of the small wild ponies that sometimes were seen 
near the mountains, but as he waited and watched 
around the jutting rocks there appeared a tall In¬ 
dian lad seated on a pony, leading another that he 
had evidently just captured from a wild herd and 
followed by a third small horse. 

Benjy climbed high on a rock and halooed at the 
top of his voice but the rider was going in the di¬ 
rection of the Indian village and away from Benjy. 


136 VIRGINIA'S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


Again the lad shouted but each second took the 
galloping horses farther and farther away from 
him. 

Realizing that his voice could not he heard, the 
boy stood still watching the retreating figures and 
wondering what he ought to do, when suddenly he 
became tense and alert. 

The wild pony that had been captured by the 
Indian lad made a sudden break for liberty. After 
rearing, it made a backward lunge and the rope that 
had been an improvised halter was torn from the 
hand of its captor; then snorting shrilly, the small 
horse galloped away and back toward the moun¬ 
tains. 

The dangling rope, snapping this way and that 
at his heels, terrorized him, and, with eyes wild, 
he raced as he had never raced before. Plunging 
blindly, he headed directly for the spot where Benjy 
stood watching. In an instant the boy had formed 
a plan. Leaping behind a mesquite bush, he 
crouched waiting the oncoming horse. Nearer and 
louder came the swift pounding of hoofs, then, just 
as the lad had hoped, the dragging rope was flung 
toward him. The boy endeavored to seize it, but 
the pony had seen him, and, rearing on his hind 
feet, he whirled, but that very motion made him 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 137 


captive, for the rope swung around the stout mes- 
quite bush and held long enough for Benjy to make 
it fast. 

Then the boy wisely ran out of reach of the 
wildly plunging horse, which enraged at his unex¬ 
pected recapture, snorted and dragged so hard on 
the rope that Benjy feared the bush would be up¬ 
rooted. 

The Indian lad was galloping toward them at 
top speed, followed by the faithful pony. “Hold 
him if you can!” was the cry that reached Benjy’s 
ears. It was English, which meant that the rider 
was either Strong Heart, or Fleet Foot of whom 
he had not heard. 

A lasso whirled through the air as the rider 
neared. It coiled like a snake about the forefeet of 
the rearing pony and pulled him to the ground. 

“What a beautiful little horse you have there,” 
Benjy said by way of greeting. 

The stoical Indian lad bowed. “I had none and 
so I have captured him for my own, but he would 
have been lost again if you had not made him fast.” 

Then he asked, “What is wrong with your 
pony ?” 

Benjy told in a few words about his great anxiety 
concerning his mother, of his eagerness to reach 


138 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


her soon as possible and about poor Clipper’s mis¬ 
hap. 

The Indian lad lifted the hurt foot, and taking 
his soft leather belt, he wound it tightly about the 
strain. Rising, Fleet Foot, for it was that fine 
Indian lad, bade Benjy place his saddle on the horse 
that had been following, adding that he would take 
Clipper to the village and give him care. “He will 
be all right in a few weeks,” the Indian lad said. 
“I hope so,” Benjy replied, “Clipper and I have 
been pals ever since I was a little shaver.” 

Then, having thanked Fleet Foot the boy again 
started up the long hard trail. 

It was nearly dusk when he reached the summit. 
Looking down into the valley, he could see the 
group of white-washed buildings that were home 
to him. With a sob he reached out both arms. 
“Mother! Mother!” he said, “I’m coming. I’ll be 
with you soon now.” 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 139 


CHAPTER XIII. 
mother! 

As Benjy neared his ranch home he saw that a 
dim light was burning in his mother’s room. This 
confirmed his fears that the one he so loved was 
really ill. Urging his steed to a gallop, he was 
soon dismounting at the corral, where he left his 
pony. The front door quietly opened and his 
brother appeared. He advanced with outstretched 
hands. 

“Hal,” the young lad said, with a sob, “is our 
mother ill?” 

“I don’t know, Benny Boy,” was the reply. 
“Mother insists that she is merely tired and that 
she is going to remain in bed until she is rested, 
and you must pretend that you believe her. It will 
be hard for you, fearfully hard, but it must be done. 
Come. Our mother has been listening all day. 
Just now she called to me and said: ‘Son, go 
quickly and open the door. My little boy has come 


140 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


home/ She knows that you are here and so we 
must not delay longer or she will think it strange.” 

Never before had the young lad been through so 
hard an ordeal. He longed to put his arms about 
his big, strong brother and sob out his dread and 
grief, but instead, he had to choke back his tears 
and enter the dimly lighted room with a smile. 

“Little Ben,” the woman on the bed called, with 
infinite love and tenderness in her voice. 

“Mother mine,” the lad replied as he sank on his 
knees and pressed his cheek against hers. Tears 
would come but in the dim light they were not seen 
and his voice sounded cheerful. 

“Brother tells me that you are taking a week’s 
rest. I am so glad. You have needed one for a 
long time and now Hal and I will show you what 
fine daughters we would have been, if we hadn’t 
been sons.” 

Harry, standing at the foot of the bed was proud 
of his brother. Benjy had always been so loved 
and petted, (even he had given in to the younger 
lad sometimes when he thought it might be un¬ 
wise), that he had feared Benjy might not be strong 
enough to rise to the emergency, but he was doing 
so bravely. In a voice that sounded natural to his 
mother, Benjy said: “I’m most starved, Mummie, 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 141 


I hope your new cook can make pies and things as 
well as you can.” 

The older boy had noted a sudden anxious ex¬ 
pression on the dear face, for the mother was re¬ 
proaching herself for having remained in bed when 
her little Ben was coming home, hungry. 

“Indeed, I can,” Hal hastened to say: “You’ll find 
the larder filled with the choicest viands.” 

Kissing the pale cheek, Benjy left the room, turn¬ 
ing at the door to toss a kiss and send back a bright 
smile, but it was to his own room that he went. 
Throwing himself down on the bed, he sobbed and 
sobbed. There Hal found him ten minutes later. 
“I can’t live without my mother,” the younger boy 
said, “I can’t! I can’t!” 

Harry put a comforting arm about his brother. 
“May heaven grant that we need not for many 
years to come.” 

Then placing a hand on each shoulder, he looked 
straight into his brother’s eyes. “Benny boy,” he 
said, “I’m counting on you. It’s hard; well do I 
know how hard, but cheerful courage is all that our 
father and mother must see. I have been waiting 
for your return. Now I am going to ride to Red 
Riverton for a doctor. I will be back tomorrow 
morning early, if all goes well.” 


142 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


“Hal!” Benjy exclaimed, “you aren't going to 
take that long hard ride tonight. You know that 
it isn't safe to go through Red River mountain pass 
alone after dark.” 

“Even so, there must not be another moment's 
delay. I must go tonight. I want you to keep your 
door open. If our mother stirs, go to her.” 

“I won't try to sleep,” the younger boy replied. 
“I do not waken easily. I'll sit up all night.” Hal 
grasped his brother’s hand to show his approval 
and then he was gone. It was the hardest night that 
Benjy Wilson ever lived through, but in it he left 
his heedless, selfish boyhood in which he had ac¬ 
cepted all that his mother had done for him, as due, 
and realized that he, too, must share the burdens 
and responsibilities that came every day. When 
Hal returned at the grey of the next dawn, one 
glance at his tired brother assured him that his 
confidence in the younger boy had not been mis¬ 
placed. Then followed a long half hour filled with 
anxiety of waiting while the kindly physician made 
a thorough examination of the little woman so 
loved by these two boys. 

“Where's our father?” Benjy suddenly asked as 
he looked up from the fire on the hearth at which 
he had been thoughtfully gazing since the kindly 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 143 


physician had entered their mother’s room fifteen 
minutes before. 

“Father went to visit the North camp last week 
and he has not yet returned/’ Harry said. “I am 
glad, for he does not know that our mother has 
given up trying to keep about. That of course 
would worry him greatly. I hope that she will be 
much better before he returns. Dad depends on 
mother so completely for his comfort and happiness 
that I fear he would collapse if he knew the truth, 
as, of course he must know it soon.” 

Again they were silent and it was still another 
quarter of an hour before the door opened. Both 
boys were on their feet at once eagerly scanning the 
face of the physician. His cheerful smile was en¬ 
couraging. 

“Lads,” he said as he placed a hand on the 
shoulder of each, “your mother is not going to die. 
Mrs. Wilson has unwisely permitted a condition to 
exist for a long time which should have been cor¬ 
rected months ago. There are very few casualties 
resulting from the operation which your mother 
must undergo.” 

There was a sudden glad light in the face of the 
older lad. 

“Doctor Warren,” he said, “the hope you are 


144 VIRGINIA'S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


giving us is the greatest joy that has ever come into 
my life.” 

The elderly physician, gazing at the earnest faces, 
thought that he had never met finer boys. Worthy 
sons of a brave, courageous little mother. 

“Now tell us what we are to do.” The load of 
dread that had been crushing Harry’s heart having 
been lifted, the lad was eager to be of active ser¬ 
vice. 

“Your mother must remain in bed until we can 
build up her strength,” the physician replied. 
“Perhaps for two weeks, and then we will take her 
to the Red Riverton hospital and have the slight 
operation performed, but, first of all I must procure 
a nurse.” 

The physician put his hands in his pockets and 
turning, gazed thoughtfully at the fire. “There is 
an epidemic in Red Riverton and I do not like 
to engage a nurse from there to care for your 
mother.” Then he glanced up at Hal. “Do you 
know of anyone near here who would come?” 

“I do,” was Benjy’s eager response. “Our good 
friend Winona will come, I am sure she will, Doc¬ 
tor Warren. She just received a diploma as a prac¬ 
tical nurse from the Red Cross Hospital on the 
Hudson.” 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 145 


“Fine!” the physician replied. “How soon can 
we have her here? Where does she live?” 

The reply brought a puzzled expression to the 
face of the doctor. 

“An Indian maiden?” he said with a rising in¬ 
flection. “I have heard of the Papagoes and that 
they are a remnant of a very superior tribe of red 
men, but I had not supposed that an Indian girl 
could possess the qualities required for a nurse. 
Are you quite sure that it would be wise to have 
her?” 

Strange things happen, stranger than fiction. 
Before Hal could reply, there was the sound of 
horses’ feet in the yard, and a moment later a light 
rapping on the front door. 

Hal sprang to open it, and there stood the maiden 
about whom they had been talking, with little Red 
Feather at her side. 

“Friend Harry,” she said. “Fleet Foot told me 
that your mother is ill. I thought you might need 
me. 

The lad stepped forward, his hand outstretched. 

“We do indeed need you,” he replied, his voice 
tense with emotion. Then turning to the older man 
he added. “Doctor Warren, this is Nurse Win- 


146 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


The physician was deeply impressed with the 
quiet dignity of the really beautiful Indian girl. 
Like all others, who knew her, the good man at 
first could not have told why he thought her 
beautiful. 

Before entering the house, the maid turned and 
said a few words in the Papago tongue, then little 
Red Feather, without a word of farewell, mounted 
his small horse and rode away. 

Doctor Warren asked to be permitted to speak 
alone with the young nurse, and the boys withdrew 
to prepare a lunch for both the newcomer and the 
physician who had a long and hard ride ahead of 
him. 

After asking about the training which Winona 
had received at the Red Cross Hospital, Doctor 
Warren said: 

“Your remuneration will be the same that would 
be given a nurse from Red Riverton.” 

Then it was that the older man knew why the 
Indian girl was beautiful. “It is a service of friend¬ 
ship that I came to offer,” she quietly replied. 
“Will ,you tell me what I am to do?” 

An hour later the physician left feeling sure that 
his directions would be carried out to the letter. 
He had learned that an Indian maiden could not 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 147 


only be a sincere friend but also an intelligent nurse. 

Before Doctor Warren departed he asked Harry 
to accompany him to the corral. As they walked 
together, the physician said: “From the conversa¬ 
tion I have had with your nurse, I believe her to 
be very capable, and luckily, just before she left 
the East, she had the care of a little woman whose 
condition was the same as your mother’s and so 
we will trust her to use her own judgment when¬ 
ever she wishes to do so.” 

Mrs. Wilson who had supposed that she had not 
much longer to be with the little family she so 
loved, was overjoyed when she realized that she 
would soon be strong again. 

She was lying in the darkened room when Harry 
entered a few moments after the doctor’s depar¬ 
ture. At his side she saw someone dressed in blue 
with white cap and apron. She was too weak to 
wonder from where the apparition had come, and 
so she accepted Winona’s presence as a matter of 
course believing that she had accompanied the doc¬ 
tor from Red Riverton. Harry merely said, 
“Mother, this is your nurse.” 

The little woman held out a frail hand and 
smiled wanly, then she closed her eyes and rested. 
She was conscious all that day that she was being 


148 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


tenderly cared for, and, toward evening when Benjy 
knelt at her side, in answer to her anxious query, he 
told his mother that the new nurse was also a fine 
cook. Mrs. Wilson who had wished that she was 
up that she might prepare the good things her 
younger son so liked, felt a sense of relief that did 
much toward restoring her needed strength. 

Never once in the two weeks that followed did 
the little woman suspect that the slender dark-eyed 
girl who cared for her was the Indian maiden of 
whom she had heard. Winona, with her black hair 
coiled under her nurse’s cap in her blue and white 
gown might easily have been taken for a French 
girl. 

Harry, wishing his mother to learn to love Win¬ 
ona without prejudice had asked Benjy to address 
her merely as “Nurse.” 

At the end of a fortnight, Mrs. Wilson was 
strong enough to sit up. When Harry believed that 
his presence was no longer needed at home, he rode 
to the northern camp to tell his father what had 
happened. He was greatly relieved because he 
could now honestly say that all would be well. 

This was not hard for the older man to believe, 
for on their return they found the little mother 
seated in the living room and beaming a welcome 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 149 


when they opened the front door. From that day, 
she rapidly regained her strength, and, at the end 
of the fortnight, she was driven in a big comfort¬ 
able car to Red Riverton. It was on that ride that 
Mrs. Wilson made a discovery which pleased her 
greatly. It was that her son, Harry, really cared 
for the girl who had nursed her so tenderly. How 
she knew this she could not have told, perhaps it 
was just a mother's intuition. 

Another two weeks passed and the happy family 
was once more gathered in the ranch home. Mrs. 
Wilson was soon strong enough to walk about the 
house, and, the long weeks of anxiety having 
ended, the members of the household again went 
about their tasks in a natural manner. Benjy re¬ 
turned with his father to the North Camp and 
Harry asked Winona if she would like to ride with 
him to inspect a water-hole not far away. Mrs. 
Wilson had urged her to go, saying that for an 
hour she could get along nicely alone. It was dur¬ 
ing that hour that she learned the real identity of 
her nurse. 


150 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


CHAPTER XIV. 

A DEEP LOVE REVEALED. 

Mrs. Wilson sat in a big comfortable chair in 
front of the wide hearth on which a log that the 
boys had dragged down from the mountains, was 
cheerily burning. The frail woman smiled happily 
as she watched the flames. How wonderful it was 
to know that after all she was going to live, perhaps 
many more years to minister to her little family. In 
her heart there had been a secret fear for months 
that she was soon to leave them. 

She leaned back among the pillows that her nurse 
had arranged so comfortably before she had de¬ 
parted for a short horse-back ride with Harry. 

From where she sat Mrs. Wilson could look out 
of the window and watch the trail down which she 
would soon see the young people returning. 

Then again she fell to dreaming. Perhaps she 
would live long enough to see both of her boys 
married, and it might be that in some future day she 
would be seated in front of this same fireplace watch- 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 151 


ing another log burn and holding a wee grandchild. 
Tears sprang to her eyes as she pictured her beloved 
husband growing old with her and little ones play¬ 
ing about them. 

This happy reverie was interrupted by the sound 
of approaching ponies. It might be the men from 
the North Camp for the nurse and Harry had not 
been gone long enough to be returning. She sat 
watching the picture framed by her window. As 
the hurrying hoof-beats neared, she guessed, and 
truly, that there were more than two ponies, for, 
down the part of the trail that she could see, single 
file, came six small, wiry horses. Instantly she knew 
that their riders were from the Indian village. 

The little black-haired boy in the lead wore a red 
feather in the band about his head, and, at his side 
rode a tall, slender girl with a scarlet blanket about 
her shoulders. There were four others, but they 
were dressed in khaki. It was only by their black 
hair and dusty complexions that she knew that they, 
too, were Indians. Then it was that Mrs. Wilson 
recalled something which of late she had forgotten. 
It was that an Indian maiden from this same Papago 
village had been East to a fashionable boarding 
school with Barbara Wente, the fairy-like little girl 
who was so liked by Benjy. 


152 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


Perhaps the Winona of whom she had heard, was 
the tall, graceful Indian maiden riding in the lead 
with the lad of the red feather, Mrs. Wilson thought, 
and then, idly, she wondered where they were going. 
Perhaps to some hunting camp farther north in the 
mountains. 

She was not long left in doubt regarding the des¬ 
tination of the riders, for, almost as soon as they 
had passed from her vision, there came a rapping on 
the front door. 

Harry had made her promise that she would not 
leave her chair and so she called, “come in,” hoping 
that one among the strange visitors might be able to 
understand the language that she spoke. 

The door opened at once and a tall young man 
with a clear, direct gaze stood before her. To the 
little woman’s surprise, he spoke excellent English. 

“Madame Wilson, I am Strong Heart, chief of 
the tribe of Papagoes. It is my wish to converse 
with my sister. One month ago Red Feather re¬ 
turned with the message that Winona was to remain 
with you and be your nurse.” 

There was a rush of conflicting emotions in the 
heart of the listener, and foremost among them was 
the sudden realization that her son, Harry, loved, 
really loved an Indian maiden. If her voice shook 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 153 


a little as she replied, Strong Heart did not notice 
it for her words were friendly as they always were 
to any fellow-being. 

“My very kind nurse then is your sister ?” she in¬ 
quired. “I have been too ill to wonder who she was 
or from where she came.” Then, fearing that in 
some way this had lacked in graciousness, she added 
simply and sincerely: “Strong Heart, we all dearly 
love your sister. She has truly been an angel in our 
home.” 

And, even as she spoke, Mrs. Wilson knew that 
it was the truth. Harry loved Winona and so too 
did his mother. Then she directed the Indian lad 
to the water-hole toward which Winona and Harry 
had ridden, and, when the visitors were gone, she sat 
for a long time watching the fire and thinking: “My 
boy shall never know that I regret his choice, and 
yet, do I really regret it, for a nobler girl he could 
not have chosen.” 

In the meantime Winona and Harry had been 
riding at a canter. Then, letting their horses walk 
more slowly, they conversed quietly together. 
They spoke of his mother and Harry expressed to 
the dusky girl at his side his great appreciation of 
her services. 

By now and then asking a question the lad per- 


154 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


suaded Winona to talk about her year at school. 
She ended by telling of Fleet Foot and she de¬ 
scribed in glowing terms his deed of heroism. 
Harry Wilson, listening, believed that Winona 
cared for the Indian lad about whom she was talk¬ 
ing, and, a few moments later he was convinced 
that his surmise had been correct. 

Suddenly they had been halted by a whooping 
call from little Red Feather, and, turning in their 
saddles, they drew rein and waited for the Papagoes 
to ride up. Instantly Harry knew that the tall, 
arrow-straight youth, who whirled his pony about 
that he might speak to Winona, was the one of 
whom he had just heard. 

They rode apart, somewhat, and for a time 
seemed unconscious of the presence of the others 
as they talked earnestly in low undertones. 

Harry tried to be interested in a conversation 
with Strong Heart concerning the condition of 
water-holes at that time of the year, but now and 
then he found his gaze wandering in the direction 
of his mother’s nurse while his thought assured 
him that Winona naturally would care more for 
one of her own people than for one of another race. 

When the young Papagoes had ridden away to¬ 
ward the mountain trail which they would have to 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 155 


cross to reach their walled-in village, the other 
two, after visiting the water-hole, returned to the 
Wilson ranch. Winona was in the lead and each 
was thoughtfully silent. As they neared the house 
Harry hastily hastened his pony and rode at the 
girl's side. She looked up with a smile so radiant 
that the lad was more than ever assured that her 
visit with Fleet Foot had brought her great hap¬ 
piness. 

“Dear girl,” he thought, “from now on I will 
try to think of her as I would of a sister. After all, 
mother will need one of her boys just to care for 
her.” Aloud he said, “Winona, Ben and I have 
often wished we had a sister. You have been to 
all of us in our trouble what I believe she would 
have been. I hope you will come often to visit 
in our home.” 

The girl turned and looked at him frankly. 
“Thank you, Harry,” she said, simply. It was 
then that Hal was convinced that the Indian girl 
had never thought of him other than a dear friend 
and companion. 

When they reached the ranch house, Harry took 
both of the horses to the corral, while Winona 
quietly entered the living room, believing, and 


156 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


truly, that she would find Mrs. Wilson dozing in 
her comfortable chair. 

For a moment Winona stood gazing at the 
sweet face to which the color of health was slowly 
returning. Then, quietly, she tip-toed close and, 
bending, she lightly kissed the forehead beneath 
the soft gray hair. 

She was not usually demonstrative, but, although 
even her dearest friend had never guessed it, there 
had always been in the heart of this Indian girl a 
yearning for that wonderful something that she had 
never had, the love of a mother. 

When a few moments later the little woman 
opened her eyes it was to see her quiet nurse again 
in the neat blue and white uniform preparing the eve¬ 
ning meal. 

Harry came in and offered his services, which 
were accepted. Winona’s manner, usually so re¬ 
served, seemed almost joyous. 

“Friend of mine,” she said, “I have a beautiful 
secret and I think I will tell it to you.” 

************** 

It was after the evening meal. Mrs. Wilson had 
been made comfortable for the night and the young 
people thought her asleep as they sat near the 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 157 


hearth in the living room and spoke quietly to¬ 
gether. 

“You promised to tell me a beautiful secret,” the 
lad said, a dread heavy at his heart. “May I hear 
it now?” 

“Yes,” the girl replied, turning her clear gaze 
toward him. “It is about Fleet Foot.’’ 

“I knew it,” was the unexpected response, and 
Winona looked up inquiringly. “Why, how could 
you know it ?” Then, as the lad did not answer, she 
continued: “This afternoon I told you about the 
kind, elderly physician in the East who was so 
pleased with Fleet Foot’s spirit of a sacrifice, and 
how, when the lad was well enough to be moved 
from tHe hospital, Doctor Quinton took him to his 
country home in New Jersey, where he remained 
through the three lovely months of spring?” 

Harry nodded. He could not understand why 
Winona was beginning her story in this way if the 
secret was what he believed it to be, that the Indian 
maiden and Fleet Foot cared for each other. 

“Are you listening, Harry?” the girl asked, for 
the lad was gazing at the burning log with a far¬ 
away expression in his grey-blue eyes. 

He turned and smiled at her. “Indeed I am, 


158 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


Winona,” he said, “I am greatly interested in what 
you have to tell me.” 

‘'So am I, greatly interested,” the girl continued. 
“It is all like a beautiful poem, and yet, true. The 
summer home of this kind old physician is a pic¬ 
turesque log cabin in the midst of a pine wood just 
above a clear blue lake which Fleet Foot described 
as a wonderful mirror reflecting every fleecy white 
cloud that sailed above it by day and every star at 
night. When they first arrived at the cabin they 
heard singing somewhere among the pines, and 
then, skipping toward them came a gold-and-white 
fairy of a girl who was Sylvia, the granddaughter 
of Doctor Quinton. She was delighted because 
her 'dear old grand-dad/ as she called him, had 
brought a comrade, and, as the days passed, Fleet 
Foot learned to love this lassie who was so unlike 
—well, so unlike the Papago maidens. 

“He called her ‘Sunshine-on-a-Dancing-Brook/ 
Fleet Foot never spoke of his love, for he believed 
that the physician, much as he liked him, would not 
wish him to marry his granddaughter, the flower 
of his life, but when Fleet Foot came West, that 
little flower drooped, and then it was that Doctor 
Quinton learned that Sylvia cared for Fleet Foot, 
really cared, and now comes the wonderful part of 


VIRGINIA'S RANCH NEIGHBORS 159 


it all. Yesterday my friend had a letter from the 
elderly physician asking him to return to them if he 
really loved his little ‘Sunshine-on-a-Dancing- 
Brook.’ Fleet Foot came to say good-bye, for to¬ 
morrow he departs.” 

There was a glad light in the eyes of the listener. 

“Winona,” Harry said, more impulsively than 
he had ever before spoken, “I thought you cared for 
Fleet Foot and I was sad, for I do so want to try 
to win your love.” 

Winona did not reply at once, and, as there was 
only the light of the fire about them, the lad could 
not tell by her expression what she might be think¬ 
ing. 

When the girl spoke, she said: “Harry, your 
mother wants you to marry one of your own peo¬ 
ple.” 

It was then that they heard a soft voice calling 
to them, “Come to me, both of you.” 

They entered the dimly lighted room and stood 
by the bedside. The little woman smiled up at 
them and in her eyes there was a new tenderness. 
Holding out a frail hand, she said: “I have always 
wanted a little girl, Winona. Won't you be my be¬ 
loved daughter?” 

The young people knelt and she placed their 


160 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


hands together. “Now,” she said, “my dearest 
wish has been fulfilled. My older son is to have 
just the wife that I would choose for him.” 


VIRGINIA'S RANCH NEIGHBORS 161 


CHAPTER XV. 

A MYSTERY AT LAST. 

A week after the arrival of Peyton's letter, sug¬ 
gesting that his sister remain longer, another came 
with quite a different request. In it the lad assured 
them all of his great faith in his new overseer. 

“Trujillo seems to have complete control of his 
helpers. In fact, at times, I think that they treat 
him reverentially, which, of course I cannot under¬ 
stand, but I am now confident that there will be no 
uprising among the peons and so Babsie I do hope 
that Virginia and your other girl friends will come 
to Three Cross and make you as long a visit as you 
have made them, longer indeed, if they can be 
spared." 

“Oh, Virg, will you go, you and Betsy and 
Megsy? I’d so love to have you all with me when 
I open up that old house. You know Peyton has 
been living in one of the small adobes, not wishing 
to open up the big place until I came. Virg, you’ve 


162 .VIRGINIA'S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


been there time and again. I remember how Mrs. 
Dartley called you her 'Angel of Mercy/ ” 

“As everyone else does on the desert or any¬ 
where,Margaret put in. 

Virg laughed. “And all because I rode over to 
Three Cross one day and applied first aid measures 
when the Dartley baby was cutting teeth.” 

“What did you do?” Betsy inquired. 

“Rubbed the poor little gums with a sterilized 
thimble till the wee teeth poked through,” Virginia 
replied. 

Barbara was eager to be away and so the very 
next morning, while it was still cool, they rode to 
the North, promising Malcolm to return in a fort¬ 
night. 

Peyton, expecting them, had ridden a few miles 
southward to meet them and joyous was the re¬ 
union between the brother and sister, but it was at 
Virginia's side that the lad was soon riding. 

The old ranch house which they were approach¬ 
ing (and which Mr. Wente had purchased from 
the Dartleys), was one of the most picturesque on 
the desert. It was a large Spanish adobe built 
around an inner court over which were hanging 
balconies. The windows were barred; wide ver¬ 
andas surrounded it on all sides, and each room had 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 163 


a door opening thereon. A clump of cottonwood 
trees grew around a water-hole in the door-yard. 
The house was very old and in some places the 
adobe walls were crumbling. 

Mr. Dartley had been too poor to repair it, and 
Peyton, since he had acquired it, had been too much 
occupied with the cattle he had purchased to attend 
to renovating the house. 

“What a wonderful old place it is,” Virginia 
said as she smiled at the lad. 

“It looks wonderful to me,” he replied, “because 
I keep hoping that someday it will be your home as 
well as mine.” 

Before the girl could reply, Babs galloped up 
alongside. “Oh Virg,” she said with sparkling 
eyes. “I just know Pm going to love this old place. 
If only there were blossoming vines climbing over 
the veranda, wouldn't it be beautiful?” 

It was hard for the maiden addressed to think of 
vines just then, but she smilingly replied, “Yes, 
dear, I am sure they would. Your well is never 
dry and anything will grow on the desert if it is 
well watered.” 

“Oh Virg, are you making a pun?” Betsy Clos- 
sen called as she and Margaret rode up within hear- 


164 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


Virginia laughed as she gaily replied, ‘‘Maybe 
I am. I don’t feel accountable just at this particular 
moment. ,, 

Peyton glanced at the flushed pretty face of the 
speaker and wondered why Virginia seemed con¬ 
fused but he did not have another moment alone 
with her for they were entering the door-yard 
where a cowboy, apparently a Mexican of the better 
class, advanced to take their ponies. 

“Who is your new acquistion, brother?” Barbara 
asked as she gazed with interest at the graceful 
Mexican lad, who, having made almost courtly 
salutations to the young ladies, had, without speak¬ 
ing, turned and led the horses toward the corral. 

Peyton remonstrated. “Don’t you know enough 
about the ways of the desert, little sister, not to ask 
who anyone is ? I really am as ignorant concerning 
the past of my faithful head rider Trujillo as you 
are. He blew in one day last March—literally 
blew in! We were having one of those terrible 
hurricanes which frequently visit us in the spring. 
For the first time since I had acquired ‘The Three 
Cross Ranch’ I was desperately dismal. The only 
capable cowboy I had, departed to become overseer 
elsewhere, and I was left with the shiftless Mexican 
peons who knowing my ignorance, took advantage 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 165 


of it. Then, as though that were not trouble 
enough, a blinding sandstorm came, and I feared 
my newly acquired herd would be driven by it over 
into Mexico. It was in the midst of all this that 
I heard a pounding on the front door. Opening it, 
I let in a whirl of wind and sand and also this Mex¬ 
ican lad, Trujillo. 

“I was desperate for companionship just then, 
and, although he did not speak English, he could 
understand my Spanish and I told him my woes. 
When the tale was finished, the sandstorm had 
passed. Silently the stranger arose. I believed that 
he was leaving without a word of gratitude for the 
refreshment I had given him. I watched him mount 
his weary horse and ride down to the bunk house. 
He called to the peons and they gathered about him. 
I saw them bring him a fresh mount and then they 
all rode away with him toward the South. I 
thought dismally that perhaps he had come to take 
them away from me, but, toward evening I heard 
them all returning. They had rounded up my 
frightened, scattering herd, and, before dark, the 
cattle were safe in the five-acre enclosure. Then 
the stranger came to say adios, but I persuaded him 
to remain until morning and he is still here.” 

“I believe there is a mystery about your Tru- 


166 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


jillo,” Betsy Clossen said. “Wouldn’t it be in¬ 
teresting if we could find out what it is?” 

The other girls laughed. 

“Betsy is always on a still hunt for a mystery.” 
Babs told her brother, as they walked toward the 
house. “We call her Detective Betsy in school, but, 
as yet, she has never discovered one worth the effort 
to unravel. School girls are not mysterious.” 

“Personally, I think one might find a mystery in 
this old house,” Margaret said. “If walls had 
tongues as well as ears what interesting stories it 
could tell.” 

Peyton led the way within, and the young peo¬ 
ple, standing in the long living room which ex¬ 
tended across the entire front of the house, uttered 
varying exclamations of delight. 

“It’s just the sort of a room one sees on the screen 
when the home of a Spanish Don is being pictured, 
isn’t it?” Margaret said. “The original owners 
were Spanish, were they not?” 

“Yes,” Peyton replied, “Don Carlos Spinoza was 
a wealthy Spaniard, who became a political outlaw 
during one of the frequent uprisings in Mexico 
City. He remained in hiding with his family in the 
mountains near here for some time and finally built 
this house. This interesting old furniture belonged 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 167 


to him. Later, when his friends were in power, he 
returned and rescued the family paintings and other 
treasures from their home in Mexico. However, 
after a year or two of isolation the Donna and their 
beautiful daughter became discontented and yearned 
once more for the gay life to which they had been 
accustomed. Don Carlos had many political 
enemies in Mexico, and so he had no desire to re¬ 
turn. At last he sold this place for a small sum to 
Mr. Dartley and left for Spain.” 

“Mrs. Dartley did not appreciate this mahogany 
furniture,” Virginia told them. “She often said 
she wished that she could make a bonfire of it all 
and buy some nice, new chairs that didn’t have 
carvings to catch the dust.” 

“But she could not because the old furniture and 
family paintings were only left here temporarily, 
or so the story goes, but years have passed and no 
one has returned to claim them.” 

Virginia smiled. “Poor Mrs. Dartley looked 
strangely out of place in the midst of all this 
grandeur. She was a dear and ever so kind hearted, 
but I often thought that the Dons and Donnas look¬ 
ing down from the walls must have wondered what 
had happened and how they chanced to be living 
with folk who dressed in gingham instead of silk. 


168 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


But they didn't see her often, for this room was us¬ 
ually left in darkened solitude, for the Dartley 
family lived almost entirely in the kitchen." 

Suddenly Barbara inquired: “Betsy, why are 
you staring so hard at the painting of that grand 
old Donna? Does the picture fascinate you?" 

Betsy laughed at them over her shoulder. “You 
know I have an active imagination," she replied, 
“and so you will not be surprised to hear me say 
that I believe I have met this fine lady somewhere." 

“That would be impossible, my dear girl," Mar¬ 
garet protested, “for that Donna could not possibly 
be living now." 

“I do believe that the lovely dark-eyed Senorita 
in this picture is her daughter," Virginia said, “and 
here she is again older and with a little girl stand¬ 
ing by her side and a beautiful dark-eyed baby boy 
on her lap. It really is too bad that the descendants 
of the Spinoza family cannot have these paintings 
in their gallery wherever they are. In Spain, I sup¬ 
pose, as they have never been heard from since they 
departed so long ago." 

“Girls," Babs said, “it is growing dusky in here, 
which reminds me that the sun will soon set and 
that the beds are not made and that I, for one, am 
ravenously hungry." 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 169 


‘‘Lead us to your culinary department, Peyton, 
and we will spread out our picnic lunch. Good, 
here comes the cowboy, Trujillo. Now Betsy, you 
begin solving the mystery, but don’t let the poor 
lad know that you are trying to unravel him,” Vir¬ 
ginia cautioned, as they entered the more modern 
kitchen which, since it faced toward the west, was 
bright with the late afternoon sunshine. At one 
end was the great black range, which had been the 
pride of the good housekeeper, who so recently 
lived there. 

Across the other end was the long dining table 
and near the windows were plains wooden rockers 
which Mrs. Dartley had made comfortable with 
soft cushioned seats, covered with bright colored 
materials, for this had been the home part of the 
house for her little family. 

The solemn grandeur of the other rooms had de¬ 
pressed the rancher’s wife and she once confided 
to Virginia that the life-sized portraits hanging 
around the walls gave her the shivers. “Those 
painted folks all have beady black eyes and they 
watch every move I make,” she had said. “It 
doesn’t matter which part of the room I walk to, 
their eyes turn and keep a spyin’ at me. It’s too 
spooky a place to live in. I don’t step a foot in 


170 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


that room, month in and month out, if I can help 
myself.” 

It was partly because of this uncanny closed room 
that Mrs. Dartley had been so eager to have her 
husband sell the Three Cross Ranch that she might 
return to the Middle-West and to the farmer folk 
whose pleasant houses were all furnished in the 
simple way that she liked. 

During the evening meal, Peyton asked many 
questions of the girls concerning their year at 
school. Margaret, Virginia and Babs chattered of 
one thing and another. Suddenly Virg, wondered 
why the usually loquacious Betsy Clossen was keep¬ 
ing so still. She looked across the table and saw 
that the would-be young detective seemed to be 
deep in thought. Now and then she would glance 
at the Mexican cowboy who sat opposite. Since he 
did not understand the English language, the girls 
did not attempt to converse with him, although 
Peyton frequently addressed Trujillo in Spanish. 

Virg smiled to herself, for she guessed, and 
rightly, that Betsy was trying to imagine a mystery 
about the really good-looking, dark young stranger 
—that she might solve it. 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 171 


CHAPTER XVI. 

A MYSTERIOUS ROOM. 

The boys went down to the corral after supper 
and the girls being left alone decided to see what the 
long darkened front room looked like at night. 

Virg, in the lead, was carrying a burning candle. 

“Leave the kitchen door standing open until we 
have lighted one of these hanging lamps,” she said. 

Babs did this and they had advanced to the middle 
of the room when a breeze from somewhere swept 
through, blew out the tiny flame on the candle and 
closed the kitchen door with a bang. Babs uttered 
a shrill scream. 

“Be still girls,” Virg said in her calm voice. 
“There is nothing to be afraid of even if we are in 
the dark. Now all of you stand here where you are. 
I know this house better than any of the rest of you 
and so I will grope my way back and reopen the 
kitchen door” 

Betsy Clossen’s detective instinct was on the alert. 
She seized Virg by the arm as she whispered, 


172 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


“There’s something queer about this. The light in 
the kitchen must also have been put out, otherwise 
we would see it shining under the door, wouldn’t 
we?” 

“I should think so,” Virg said slowly as she 
paused, then she added “even so, I will investigate. 
The boys are near. If we are frightened, we will 
call them.” 

She groped her way toward the wall, where she 
believed she would find the kitchen door. “Good!” 
she told the waiting group. “Here it is.” But, when 
she turned the knob, the door would not open. She 
pushed and pulled, but all to no effect. 

“Please call Peyton,” Megsy implored. “I have 
the chilly shivers going up and down my spine. I 
just know this house is haunted and that the haunt 
is angry because we came, and wishes to scare us 
away.” 

“Girls,” Betsy Clossen said in a low voice, “I be¬ 
lieve that I understand it all. It’s that mysterious 
Trujillo. He has some object in living here, I’ll 
wager, and he fears that this object, whatever it is, 
will be defeated if so many girls are around to watch 
him, and so he is trying to scare us away. Well, I 
for one shall stay.” 

Virginia’s laugh from out of the dark sounded 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 173 


merry and natural. Then, just at that moment, hav¬ 
ing found the right knob, she opened the kitchen 
door and a flood of light from the big lamp fell 
upon the huddled group. 

Margaret and Babs darted for the home-like 
kitchen as though it were a harbor of safety but 
Betsy Clossen remained in the darkness. “Virg,” she 
called, “let the other girls stay there and you bring 
one of the small lamps that won’t blow out easily 
and let’s look around and see where the wind came 
in that blew out the candle and slammed the door.” 

“Don’t think that we feel offended, Betsy,” Mar¬ 
garet called as she sank down in a big comfortable 
kitchen rocker. “I have no yearning to unravel 
mysteries. You and Virg may have all of the honor 
and all of the shivers.” 

“Ditto!” Babs said as she sat in another of the 
rockers and drew it closer to the stove. Virginia 
having found a lantern, lighted it and again entered 
the long silent front room. Having closed the 
kitchen door, she turned to speak to Betsy, but, to 
her surprise, the other girl was nowhere to be seen. 

Believing that her friend had hidden, just to mys¬ 
tify her, Virginia went about the room holding her 
lantern high and peering behind the big, heavily- 
carved mahogany furniture. At first she was in 


174 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


no way alarmed, but, when each nook and corner 
had been searched, she stood still, troubled indeed. 
She had not wanted to call the name of her friend 
for she knew that the two more timid girls in the 
kitchen would hear and become alarmed, but, at last, 
there being no other alternation she said, “Betsy, 
where are you?” Then she stood listening, but the 
moaning of the wind down the chimney was the only 
sound that she could hear. 

What could have become of Betsy? Perhaps she 
had stepped out of the front door and was hiding on 
the porch, but, when Virg turned to look, she saw 
that the heavy wooden doors were barred on the 
inside. 

The usually calm Virginia was becoming troubled 
and she was indeed glad to hear Peyton entering the 
kitchen. She would have to tell them all now, and 
have them join in the search for Betsy who had so 
mysteriously disappeared. 

“Virg, what is the matter? You look as though 
you had seen a ghost,” Megsy exclaimed, as she 
sprang up from her comfortable rocker when she 
saw Virginia returning from the dark, silent front 
room. 

Peyton had just entered the kitchen. Having 
blown the light out in his lantern, he was hanging 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 175 


it on its peg, but upon hearing Margaret’s startled 
exclamation, he whirled and looked at Virg. He 
noted that she was very pale and seemed greatly 
agitated. 

This was indeed unusual, for as long as he had 
known this calm girl, she had been mistress of every 
situation that had arisen. He took a quick step to¬ 
ward her, fearing that she would faint. 

Babs, too, had risen. Virg spoke almost in¬ 
coherently: “Betsy, she’s lost—disappeared,” she 
told them. 

Peyton protested in amazement. “But Virg, how 
could Betsy be lost'. She has been right here in the 
house all of the time, hasn’t she?” 

Then Virg told the lad just what had happened. 

“I do not wonder that Trujillo has aroused Betsy’s 
curiosity,” Peyton remarked. “For that matter, if 
it were not the custom of the desert to ask no ques¬ 
tions, I believe that I, myself, would be tempted to 
ask him who he really is and from whence he came. 
He is greatly the superior of the Mexican peons that 
I have working here and they obey his slightest word 
as though they too recognized his superiority. He 
seems content to be my foreman, for he has said 
nothing about leaving. In fact he seldom speaks. He 
replies graciously in perfect Spanish when I address 


176 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


him, but says almost nothing of his own accord. But 
Virg, what has all this to do with Betsy? How can 
she have disappeared ?” 

“It certainly is mysterious,” that maiden replied. 
“Not ten minutes ago we were all in the front room. 
Betsy said that she wanted to see what it would look 
like when those queer hanging lamps were lighted.” 

“I said we ought not to go,” Babs interrupted, 
tremulously, “and now, if anything has happened 
to Betsy we’ll—” 

“Why, sister, nothing could happen to her right 
here in our own house,” Peyton declared in a tone 
of conviction. Then to Virg, he added: “Please tell 
me the rest of your story.” 

“As Babs says, she and Megsy were in favor of 
remaining in the well-lighted and far more com¬ 
fortable kitchen, but Betsy begged and so we all went 
with her, carrying only a lighted candle. We had 
not gone far into the room when the door closed 
with a bang and the flame on the candle went out, 
although I did not feel a stir of wind. Of course 
we returned to the kitchen, all but Betsy. She sug¬ 
gested that the other girls stay by the stove and 
that I return to her with a lighted lantern. I was 
not away from her five minutes, but when I went 
back Betsy was not standing where I had left her, 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 177 


and where she had promised to remain. I supposed 
that she was hiding somewhere, and so I held the 
lantern high and looked behind all of those massive 
pieces of carved furniture, but I could not find her. 
Then I called her name, softly, but there was no re¬ 
ply. By that time I was truly frightened and when 
I heard you returning, I came at once to ask you to 
join me in searching for her.” 

Peyton looked more puzzled than troubled. 
“Virg,” he said, “if this were a tale in a story-book, 
we might think that Betsy had fallen through a trap¬ 
door, but surely there is nothing of that sort in this 
old ranch house, even though it was built—” he 
paused and snapped his fingers. “Hum!” he ex¬ 
claimed, “the plot thickens. Come to think of it, 
this house was built by an old Spanish Don who was 
a political outlaw from Mexico. For months he hid 
in the mountains with his wife, children and ser¬ 
vants. Then, when he believed that he had evaded 
his pursuers, his peons built this adobe house and so 
it is very possible that he might have built some sort 
of trap-door through which they could all quickly dis¬ 
appear and evade capture. Come,” he added, as he 
swung open the door into the dark, silent front room, 
“we’ll make a thorough search but I still feel con¬ 
vinced that your Detective Betsy is hiding to tease.” 


178 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


CHAPTER XVII. 

WHERE BETSY WAS HIDING. 

But the searchers were soon convinced that 
Betsy was not hiding to* tease. Peyton lighted all 
of the heavy brass hanging lamps but they did little 
to illumine the long, dark room. Indeed, their dim 
light made the corners darker and more ghostly 
than they had been before. Each girl was carry¬ 
ing a lantern and the room was searched more 
thoroughly than it had been by Virginia alone. 

“Perhaps Betsy climbed out of a window and is 
hiding out doors/’ Babs suggested. 

“That would be an impossible feat/’ Peyton re¬ 
plied, “for, in common with all Spanish houses, 
these windows are barred.” 

As he spoke the lad turned and walked toward 
the fireplace. He looked into it’s cavernous open¬ 
ing and carefully examined the walls and chimney. 
Turning back into the room, Peyton met Virginia 
and they exchanged discouraged glances. “I sim- 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 179 


ply cannot understand it,” the boy said in a low 
tone. 

Before Virginia could reply, a startled cry rang 
out. They both whirled, expecting to see Betsy, 
but instead it was Babs who was gazing at one of 
the barred windows as though she had seen the 
ghost about which she had been talking. 

Peyton leaped to her side. “Barbara,” he said, 
“why are you staring at the window in that wild 
way? I can see nothing.” 

“No, you can’t now,” the girl replied. “It is 
gone—the face—” 

“I believe that mischievous Betsy Clossen is out¬ 
side peering in at us and laughing to think how 
she is fooling us all,” Virginia said in almost a 
natural tone. “I know her of old. She loves to 
tease.” 

But Babs shook her head as she continued to 
gaze at the barred window. 

“It wasn’t Betsy,” she whispered. “It was a 
dark face. I think Trujillo.” 

“Girls, you come back to the kitchen,” Peyton 
said, “and bar the door after me. I am going to 
see if Betsy Clossen is really hiding outside. If she 
is the kind of a girl who would cause you all this 


180 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


concern just to play a prank, I think you would 
better send her back East when she is found. ,, 

“I, too, thought at first that she was hiding to 
tease,” Margaret said, “but Betsy really has good 
common-sense and she would not continue to 
frighten us in this way. Now, I am sure that some¬ 
thing has happened to her.” 

Peyton was much more troubled than he wished 
the girls to know. It was his house and they were 
his guests, and his sister’s. Too, he had been 
quietly watching his new Mexican overseer for the 
past few weeks, as some of his actions seemed very 
strange. 

Then Peyton left the kitchen. 

“Oh, how I do wish this mystery was solved,” 
Margaret declared as she sank down in a rocker, her 
eyes watching the closed door leading into the front 
room, but almost instantly she was on her feet 
again clutching Virginia’s arm. 

“Look! Quick!” she whispered. “Didn’t the 
door open a crack?” 

Virginia laughed. “No, no, child,” she replied. 
“Don’t let your imagination run riot. I am sure 
there is some perfectly natural common-place rea¬ 
son for Betsy’s disappearance. You girls know 
perfectly well that there is no such thing as a ghost. 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 181 


You hear stories about them but you never met a 
single person who ever saw one.” 

Then they were silent, just waiting, they knew 
not for what. 

In the meantime Peyton had gone down to the 
bunk-house. 

The lad knew that the. girl could not have left 
the room by any of the exits known to him. The 
front door had been heavily barricaded by the 
Spanish Don on the inside and as Peyton did not 
use that room, he had not opened the massive 
wooden doors. The windows were barred and the 
only door of which he had knowledge was the one 
leading into the kitchen. Suddenly he recalled that 
there was another door but he had found it locked, 
with no key in evidence, and believeing it led into 
a store room of some kind, he had thought little of 
it. 

When Babs had cried out that she had seen a 
face peering in at one of the barred windows, a 
dark face that looked like Trujillo's, Peyton had 
determined to go at once to the bunk-house and find 
out the whereabouts of his head rider. 

There was a very long adobe building in which 
the ten peons lived together. Not far from it was 
one small solitary adobe which had been built for 


182 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


the overseer of the Three Cross Ranch. It was in 
this that Trujillo slept, although he took his meals 
with Peyton at the big house. The owner of the 
ranch felt that this was a courtesy due his head 
rider, and, moreever Trujillo had served him well 
by saving his cattle on the day of his first appear¬ 
ance in the wild March blizzard. 

As he thought of these things, he rebuked him¬ 
self for having doubted the loyalty of his Mexican 
cowboy in whom he had so much faith that he had 
placed him in charge of the entire ranch, and yet, 
try as he might to banish it, he could not but agree 
with Betsy that there was something very mys¬ 
terious about Trujillo. 

The long adobe was lighted and the Mexicans 
squatting on the floor were intent on a game which 
they played every evening. 

Peyton quietly passed the open door and did not 
attract their attention. He went at once to the 
overseer’s adobe dwelling. It was dark. The door 
was standing open and in the faint light of the 
rising moon, Peyton could see that the single room 
was unoccupied. 

“Trujillo,” he said softly, but there was no re¬ 
sponse. 

Peyton, troubled indeed, turned back toward the 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 183 


ranch house. He did not inquire of the peons the 
whereabouts of Trujillo, for the overseer never as¬ 
sociated with his helpers although he treated them 
kindly. 

What should he do? What could he do? The 
lad was thinking as he again ascended the steps and 
entered the kitchen door. It was then that he heard 
a crash followed by a shrill cry in the front room. 

Instantly the girls were on their feet and they 
were all staring at the closed door when it burst 
open and Betsy Clossen rushed in. Her face was 
very pale and she was so excited that at first she 
could not speak. 

“Betsy, is it really you?” Barbara exclaimed joy¬ 
fully as she caught her friend in her arms. 

“I’m not sure certain it is, myself,” Betsy replied 
as she sank down in a rocker. “I’ve had the most 
exciting experience.” 

The others gathered about her. “Do tell us just 
what happened,” Virginia said. 

“Well, when you left me standing alone in the 
dark room, I happened to take a step backward and 
that caused me to sit down very suddenly in a big 
mahogany chair. I caught at the arms and I must 
have pushed a button that was part of the carving. 
Instantly I realized that I was slowly sinking, al- 


184 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 

though it was so dark I could not tell just what 
was happening. The floor seemed to have opened 
under me and very quietly and easily the chair was 
descending like an elevator. At last I was con¬ 
vinced that I had been let down through a trap¬ 
door. I could hear it closing above me. I found 
myself in a dark room. I didn’t dare leave the 
chair, however, so there I sat, shouting lustily for 
help, but I could not make you hear. I must have 
been there an hour when I decided that I would ex¬ 
periment with the chair. I thought that if by push¬ 
ing .one knob I had caused it to descend into the 
cellar-like room, there must be another knob that 
would lift it again. At last I found such a con¬ 
trivance, pushed it and slowly the chair ascended. 
I gave a cry of joy when I was once more in the 
front room, I sprang from the chair, knocking over 
a small table which fell with a crash and here I am. 
Now that it’s all over, I am glad that it happened. 
What an exciting experience it will be to tell Cousin 
Bob.” 

“And so you see, girls, the mysterious Trujillo 
had nothing to do with it,” Virginia said. 

Peyton, however, remembering the unoccupied 
bunk-house of the overseer was still troubled, but 
a moment later his fears concerning the loyalty of his 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 185 


cowboy were set at rest. The galloping of a 
horse’s feet was heard and then a hallooing. Pey¬ 
ton swung open the door and Trujillo stood there. 

Rapidly in Spanish he told the other lad that 
one of the peons had reported early in the evening 
that a yearling had fallen into a water-hole and that 
together they had departed to endeavor to rescue it. 
Luckily there was but little water in the hole and 
the young cow, though greatly frightened, was un¬ 
hurt and they had brought it back to keep for a few 
days in the hospital corral. 

This was all so commonplace that it restored the 
girls to a more normal state of mind and Peyton 
rebuked himself for having doubted his head rider 
who was ever serving him so faithfully. 

“Now, let’s go to bed, girls, and forget all that 
has happened. We are quite used to elevators and 
since we know that the Don, who built this house, 
needed some way to hide quickly from his pursuers, 
we can easily understand his descending chair. 
Tomorrow I intend to take a ride in it.” 

Virginia’s matter of fact tone calmed the 
younger and more nervous girls and soon they re¬ 
tired. 

The recent owners of the Three Cross Ranch 
had built a wing leading from the kitchen. This 


186 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


contained two simply furnished bedrooms which 
the four girls were to occupy. 

Betsy Clossen was the last to fall asleep. She 
kept wondering where she had seen Trujillo before. 
Nowhere, that she could remember, and yet, if not, 
why did she seem to be haunted with the idea that 
she had seen him. 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 187 


CHAPTER XVIII. 

AN ELEVATOR CHAIR. 

The next day the girls were awakened by the 
sun shining in at their open windows; young calves 
in the near corral were calling to their mothers and 
the hens in the chicken yard at the back of the house 
were cheerily clucking as they busily scratched for 
their breakfast. 

This was all so commonplace that the girls arose, 
laughing as they spoke of their fears of the night 
before. As soon as their morning meal had been 
finished, Betsy Clossen wished to visit the scene of 
her recent adventure, and so all together they en¬ 
tered the dark, silent front room. 

There were heavy wooden blinds on all of the 
windows except the one through which Babs on the 
night before had seen a dusky face peering. 

“Girls,” the little mistress of the Three Cross 
Ranch exclaimed, “since this is to be my home, I 
am going to frighten away the ghost by letting in 
the sunshine. Virg, will you help me unbar these 
wooden blinds?” 


188 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


Willing hands assisted and soon the sunshine 
was flooding in, revealing the wonderful old ma¬ 
hogany furniture. There was dust deep in each of 
the carvings, while long deserted cobwebs stretched 
across comers and they, too, were dust laden. 

“It is all very fine, I’ve no doubt,” Babs began, 
as, with arms akimbo she looked about at her new 
possesions, “but I certainly do wish that the Span¬ 
ish Don to whom all this grandeur belongs would 
return and claim it. I’m like Mrs. Hartley, I would 
just love to have this long, big room furnished in 
the cozy, comfortable way to which I am ac¬ 
customed.” 

“Well, I certainly would take those paintings 
down from the wall,” Margaret declared with a 
shudder. “I would rather have any number of 
ghosts than those foreign folks watching every 
move I made. Honest Injun, they give me the 
chilly shivers staring at one the way they do.” 

Virginia laughed. “Where’s Betsy Clossen?” 
she suddenly inquired. 

While the other girls had been busy removing 
the wooden blinds, that maiden had been experi¬ 
menting with her “elevator” chair. As Virg spoke, 
the girls heard a gay shout and turned in time to 
see Betsy’s head disappearing below the floor. 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 189 


They ran in that direction and reached the spot just 
as the trap-door closed and snapped into place. 

Babs shook her finger at the spot as she declared: 
“Mysterious chair, this is the very last day that you 
will operate. I’m going to make this wonderful 
long room livable and I surely don’t want chairs 
that will carry some unsuspecting guest down to 
the cellar.” 

Margaret laughed merrily. 

“Wouldn’t it be amusing, though, if one did have 
a solemn, serious caller, a deacon or someone like 
that, who happened to sit on this chair and suddenly 
disappear? You had better keep it, Babs, it may 
come in handy.” 

But the little housekeeper vigorously shook her 
head. “No, my mind is made up once for all. 
Every bit of this foreign furniture is going to be 
stored in an outhouse until the rightful owner 
claims it, and I am going to Douglas when you 
girls return to V. M. Ranch and buy just the things 
that I would enjoy having.” 

“I wonder why Betsy doesn’t come back,” Mar¬ 
garet remarked. She had been intently watching 
the trap door to see what would happen next. 

The three girls kelt and called in chorus: “Betsy! 
Are you down there? Why don’t you bring the 


190 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


elevator chair up again?” There was no reply. 
Not a sound from below could they hear. The girls 
tried to open the trap-door, but the contrivance that 
secured it was underneath the floor. 

“What if the machinery doesn't work?” Mar¬ 
garet said, looking up in sudden dismay, “Betsy 
might smother down there.” 

“Who is talking about me?” a merry voice called. 
The astonished girls sprang to their feet and 
whirled around. There was the laughing Betsy 
standing back of them. 

The other three crowded about. “Did you make 
any new discoveries? Tell us what happened!” 

“Well, when I reached the cellar,” Betsy began, 
“I hunted about to find the other knob, the one that 
would lift me again to this room, but lo and behold, 
it appeared to have lost its magic. I pulled on it 
and pushed, but the chair did not move. I could 
hear you calling to me, although your voices 
sounded faint and far. I replied but I was sure 
that you could not hear. Then I sat for a few mo¬ 
ments thinking what I ought to do next. Of 
course I knew that you would soon call for help 
if I did not return and that Peyton would break 
open the trap. When my eyes became accustomed 
to the darkness, I thought I saw a door at the far 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 19T 


side of the room. Groping my way toward it, I 
found that it opened easily. Just beyond was a 
spiral stairway which I ascended. At the top was 
another door, but it was locked. I was about to 
pound upon it, when I happened to touch a key 
which I turned and here I am.” 

“Oh!” Virginia exclaimed. “I remember that 
door. It is the one I tried to open last night when 
the candle blew out, but I found it locked. Pey¬ 
ton said he supposed that it led into a store room 
but he had never been curious enough about the 
matter to investigate.” 

Babs was opening the windows, letting in the 
cool morning breeze. “I’m going to ask Peyton if 
we can’t have these bars removed,” she declared as 
she stood peering through them. “I feel as though 
I were in a jail looking out between bars this way.” 
Suddenly she uttered an exclamation which took 
all of the girls hurrying to her side. 

“What is it, Babs ? What do you see ? Why are 
you staring so inten f ly at the ground?” were the 
questions hurled at her. Babs whirled about and 
faced them, her eyes wide with excitement. “This 
is the window through which I saw a Mexican last 
night peering in at us,” she said. 

The others nodded. “You all laughed at me and 


192 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


declared that I was letting my imagination run 
riot.” Then she added, exultingly, “Follow me, 
young ladies, and you will discover that I, too, am 
a very fine detective.” 

Much mystified, the girls trooped out of the 
kitchen door and around the house. Babs, in 
the lead, stopped and picked up something from the 
ground not far from the barred window. Turn¬ 
ing she held aloft a peculiarly shaped key. 

“This probably will solve the mystery for us,” 
she declared. “Good, there is Peyton. Hail him, 
Betsy, will you?” 

The lad mounted, was about to start with several 
peons for the valley pasture when he heard the girls 
calling. Whirling his horse and bidding the Mexi¬ 
cans wait his return, he galloped up. Dismount¬ 
ing, he asked Babs what was wanted of him. He 
listened to her story, almost believing that she had 
been imaginative until she produced the strangely 
shaped key as evidence that some one had been 
there. 

“Brother, did you ever see that key before?” 
Babs eagerly inquired. 

The lad nodded. “Yes,” he replied. “I saw it 
lying on Trujillo’s bed yesterday morning when I 
went to his bunk early to ask his advice before be- 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 193 


ginning the work of the day. I picked up the key 
at the time and examined it because of its queer 
shape, but I made no comment as the matter I had 
called to discuss was much more important. How¬ 
ever, I cannot believe that my trusted overseer 
would spy upon the actions of my sister and her 
guests. There must be some other solution of this 
mystery,” he said. Then he added: “Please say 
nothing concerning it and I will try to find out the 
truth about the whole matter.” 

Peyton slipped the key into one of his coat 
pockets and lifting his hat to the girls he rode away. 


194 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


CHAPTER XIX. 

THE GIRL DETECTIVE. 

Betsy Clossen in her role of young detective 
watched for an opportunity to slip away from the 
others as she wished to think out some plan by 
which she might be able to discover the real identity 
of the mysterious Mexican, Trujillo. 

When Peyton had said that he had seen the oddly 
shaped key only the morning before in the bunk- 
house of his overseer, Betsy was more than ever 
convinced that Trujillo's presence on the Three 
Cross ranch was not merely because he needed em¬ 
ployment. And yet what could he want? Peyton 
had no money on the place. Betsy had heard him 
tell his sister only the night before that he would 
have to ride to Douglas the following day to visit 
the bank and procure the money he would need to 
pay the peons for a month's work. 

There were no treasures in the old Spanish house 
that Trujillo could wish to possess. The mahog¬ 
any furniture was valuable, no doubt, but much too 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 195 


heavy for anyone to spirit away, and the only other 
possible treasures in the room which Babs called 
haunted were the paintings of the family of Don 
Carlos Spinoza. Surely no one would wish to steal 
those. In fact if any one did, Babs would gladly 
assist them, so eager was she to remove from the 
walls of her new home the life-sized portraits of 
those “foreigners.” 

“I don’t believe I’m a very good detective after 
all,” Betsy sighed. “I don’t seem to hit upon the 
right clue to start from,” she thought as she fol¬ 
lowed a trail leading, she did not notice where, so 
intently was she thinking and gazing at the ground. 

“I have three main facts to work with,” she told 
herself. “The first is that Trujillo is mysterious, 
even Peyton thinks that. The second is the dark 
face that peered through the barred window last 
night when the girls were searching for me and the 
third is that the person who peered dropped an 
oddly shaped key which Peyton had seen in the 
room of his overseer. 

“The conclusion to be drawn is that Trujillo is re¬ 
maining at the Three Cross ranch, not because of 
the remuneration he receives, but in order to obtain 
some information, since there is nothing valuable 
to carry away.” 


196 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


“Three Cross,” she repeated to herself. “That 
surely is a queer name for a cattle ranch. Oh, I 
remember now! Peyton said that old Don Carlos 
was very religious, and that somewhere on the 
place he had erected a shrine on which were three 
crosses and that he went there to implore protec¬ 
tion from his persuing political enemies. I murt 
ask Babs where—” Betsy suddenly paused and 
looked about her. She saw that the trail she had 
been following seemed to end abruptly in a lonely 
sheltered hollow among sand hills. In front of the 
girl stood an old shrine above which were three 
wooden crosses. One had fallen to the ground, an¬ 
other leaned far over, but the center one was erect 
and seemed to be more firmly established in the 
sand than the other two had been. 

Betsy stood looking around, awed by the lone¬ 
liness of the place, when suddenly, through the 
stillness there arose a long-drawn-out wail. With 
a startled cry the girl turned and fled. She ran 
back over the trail as she had never run before. 

When she felt that she was a safe distance away 
she turned and looked back, almost believing that 
she would see some ghostly figure pursuing her. 
Standing on the top of a sand hill, its lean length 
silhouetted against the bright sky, she saw a lone 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 197 


coyote. She shuddered and looked back again, but 
at last she was convinced that the wolf of the desert 
had no intention of following her but had departed 
for some other haunt. 

Slowing her pace, Betsy soliloquized: ‘Well, I 
discovered something, even though it may have 
nothing to do with unraveling the mystery. Now 
let me see, where did I leave off? Oh, yes; I had 
decided that Trujillo is staying on this ranch for 
some reason other than that of employment, and 
yet it cannot be to steal, for there is nothing on the 
place that one would want, and—” Suddenly 
Betsy stood still and stared into space, thinking in¬ 
tently. Then she laughed. ‘Tm a great detective, 
I must say. I haven’t given a moment’s thought 
to the most important clue of all—the key! Tru¬ 
jillo must think there is something around here to 
unlock, otherwise why did he have the key?” The 
overseer had arrived in a March blizzard, she had 
heard Peyton tell, without box or baggage of any 
kind, nor had he obtained any since his arrival. 

“Hum,” thought the would-be detective. “I see 
it all now. There is a treasure hidden at the house, 
probably in the front room which has alway been 
kept closed, and Trujillo had planned that night to 
slip in, unobserved, but having seen a light in the 


198 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


room, he had first peered through the window and 
had then beat a hasty retreat. Hurray for me!” 
Betsy concluded exultingly. ‘‘The mystery is solved. 
I do believe.” 

She was nearing the house and she saw the girls 
on the porch beckoning to her. 

“Where have you been? Lunch is ready,” Mar¬ 
garet called. 

“Oh, just for a walk,” was Betsy’s non-committal 
reply. She had decided to say nothing of her dis¬ 
covery until she had had time to look around a little 
more all by herself. But the would-be detective 
was to hear something that noon which convinced 
her that she was following the wrong clue. 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 199 


CHAPTER XX. 

A QUEER KEY. 

The girls were seated about the table at one end 
of the big comfortable kitchen and, it being Mar¬ 
garet’s turn to play waitress, she was passing a dish 
of frijolies when they heard a horse galloping under 
the windows. “Peyton has returned just in time,” 
Megsy announced, but, when the door opened, it 
was Trujillo who appeared. He seemed to be much 
excited, but what he said caused a great deal more 
excitement among his listeners, for in perfectly good 
English he inquired: 

“Senoritas, have you seen an oddly shaped key? 
It is an antique and of great value to me, though to 
no one else. I left it in my bunk-house yesterday 
morning. I recall having seen your brother,” turn¬ 
ing to address the astonished Barbara, “when he 
picked it up and examined it. Since then I have 
given the key no thought, but a moment ago, chanc¬ 
ing to look for it, I could not find it. Believing that 


200 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


Senor Peyton, without thought had slipped it into 
his pocket, I came here in search of him.” 

Barbara cast a helpless glance at the ever calm 
Virginia, who replied: “Trujillo, the key about 
which you speak, is, I am sure, the one that we found 
close to the house early this morning. We gave it 
to Peyton. He is spending the day at the valley 
pasture directing the mending of the fence around 
the grass lands.” 

“I thank you, Senorita,” the tall dark lad said, 
sweeping his sombrero in a courtly manner. 

When he was gone in search of his employer, the 
girls sank back in the chairs from which they had 
risen, and, one and all uttered some characteristic 
exclamation. 

“Silver fishes in a shining sea,” Betsy Clossen said, 
and although the remark could mean nothing, it was 
evident that the speaker meant a great deal. “I 
surely am a wonderful detective,” she declared. 
“Every clue I thought I had has vanished.” Then 
turning to Babs, she added: “Didn’t you tell us that 
Trujillo could not speak English?” 

That maiden looked puzzled. “I don’t seem to 
recall why I thought he conldn’t,” she confessed. 
“Probably because he never did in all the time he has 
been here.” 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 201 


Virginia smiled: “We haven’t been here two days 
as yet,” she reminded them, and we have made no 
effort to converse with Trujillo. We just took it 
for granted he wouldn’t understand us. Well, one 
thing is certain and that is that Trujillo did not peer 
in the window nor drop the key and I am glad that 
he didn’t. Everything Peyton has told us about him 
has been so fine and noble, I would be sorry to dis¬ 
cover that he was a spy.” 

“Hark! What was that?” Virginia had risen and 
was listening, intently. There was the sound of 
something heavy falling in the front room, then a 
hurrying of feet and the slamming of a door. 

Virginia fearlessly entered the room which was 
flooded with sunlight, since the blinds had been re¬ 
moved. She went at once to the door opening upon 
the spiral stairway. It was unlocked early that 
morning. The other girls had cautiously followed 
and were searching for the something which had 
fallen. “There it is,” Margaret whispered, pointing. 

The something that had fallen with a crash proved 
to be a rock which had been pried out of the wall of 
the fireplace. 

'Oh, girls,” Betsy said, her eyes glowing. “We’re 
on the trail of whoever it was peered in last night. 
There is something in this room that he wants. Of 


202 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


course we have decided definitely that it wasn’t 
Trujillo, and—” 

“I'm not so sure of that.” It was the quiet Mar¬ 
garet who spoke and the others turned toward her. 

“Not sure? Why of course we’re sure. If he had 
dropped the key, he wouldn’t have to ask where it 
had been lost, would he ?” Babs inquired. 

“Oh, I know what Margaret means,” Betsy inter¬ 
rupted. “She thinks that in order to throw suspicion 
away from himself, he would pretend ignorance of 
the whereabouts of the key. Then, when we directed 
him to the valley pasture, what could be simpler than 
for him to pretend to go there, but in reality to wheel 
back when he was out of our sight and return to pro¬ 
cure whatever it is that he seems to want.” 

The girls had returned to the kitchen and were 
huddled as far from the front room as they could 
get and were whispering together excitedly. 

“Well,” Betsy confessed. “I’ve always wanted a 
mystery to unravel, but I seem doomed to failure 
now that I really have one. It grows more mys¬ 
terious every minute.” 

Margaret had to laugh at her friend’s dismal ex¬ 
pression. “Betsy,” she said to tease, “I’ll dare you 
to ride down to the cellar room in your elevator chair 
and see who is hiding there. Someone must be, for 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 203 


he just went down the spiral stairs and locked the 
door behind him.” 

The would-be detective shook her head. “I told 
you this morning that the machinery is broken. That 
chair is doomed to remain in the cellar.” 

To verify her statement, Betsy drew the reluctant 
Margaret toward the door, opened it cautiously and 
peered into the front room. Then she closed it with 
a bang, and turned a pale face toward the girls. “The 
chair—it’s in its right place. Someone has ridden up 
in it and must be hiding in the front room. How I 
wish Peyton would come. I for one have had enough 
mystery to last for a lifetime.” 

“Here comes brother, and someone is riding at his 
side. I declare, it’s Trujillo, and so the intruder 
must be someone else. I do wish they would hurry. 
I’m expecting any minute that something is going to 
happen,” Babs declared. 

Margaret, who had opened the door leading to the 
back porch, uttered an exclamation of astonishment, 
then, turning she beckoned as she said: “Come, 
quick! Something is hapening right this minute.” 

What the girls, crowding into the open doorway, 
saw was the figure of a peon crouching and creeping 
along behind a hedge of mesquite bushes. He kept 
watching the trail down which he saw Peyton and 


204 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


Trujillo descending, and, when they were close to 
him, he lay flat on the sand burrowing as deep as he 
could in his endeavor to escape detection. 

The riders, deeply engrossed in their conversation, 
were not looking in that direction, and when Mar¬ 
garet saw that they were riding past the mesquite 
clump without seeing the hiding peon, she ran out 
on the porch and hallooed to them, making frantic 
motions. These might not have been understood by 
the two riders, but the ignorant and greatly 
frightened Mexican, believing that his hiding place 
was being revealed, took to his feet and raced for 
the sand hills. Peyton and Trujillo, seeing him, 
wheeled their horses and galloped in pursuit, and he 
was quickly overtaken. 

“It is Pinez, whom we recently engaged.” Tru¬ 
jillo said in English, which the peon could not under¬ 
stand. “I have been watching him for several days. 
Last week I sent him to town for my mail and I was 
convinced that one of my letters was being withheld 
from me.” Then turning to the sullen peon, he asked: 
“Pinez, why were you hiding? Have you a letter 
that belongs to me ?” 

“Si, Senor,” was the reply, and from his pocket 
the Mexican drew an envelope, much soiled from 
frequent handling. 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 205 


Trujillo’s face brightened. “It is for this that I 
have been waiting,” was his remark, which greatly 
mystified Peyton, but he made no comment. 

Then the overseer addressed the peon in Spanish, 
saying: “Pinez, you are dismissed. Return to So¬ 
nora but say nothing of the content of this letter.” 

The peon’s manner was deferential in the extreme. 
Turning, he walked toward the long bunk-house 
from which, half an hour later, the girls saw him 
ride away toward the South on the small, mottled 
horse on which he had so recently arrived. 

All through lunch the two boys talked about the 
affairs of the ranch as though nothing mysterious 
or unusual had happened. After the noon meal was 
finished the overseer turned toward the little mistress 
of Three Cross saying with frank pleasantness: “Se- 
norita, I have heard you speak of a front room that 
you call haunted. With your kind permission, I 
would like to visit that room in your company.” 

Babs was too well bred to show the astonishment 
she certainly felt. “Come, let us all go in there,” 
she replied, rising. 

Trujillo stepped aside with Peyton to permit Bar¬ 
bara and her girl friends to enter. Betsy regretted 
that she had to go ahead as she wished to watch the 
overseer’s every move, for she felt that now, if ever, 


206 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


she would prove that she was really a good detective. 
She believed that the moment for solving the mys¬ 
tery had come. 

Trujillo walked about, gazing especially at the 
life-sized portraits upon the walls. Indeed he was 
so absorbed in one and another that he seemed to 
quite forget their presence. 

He stood for a long time before the painting of a 
beautiful young Spanish mother with a dark-eyed 
little girl on her lap and a tall, handsome youth 
standing at her side. 

Trujillo, directly beneath this painting, turned 
and smiled at the almost breathless girls. He was 
about to speak, but before he could utter a word, 
there was a glad cry from Betsy Clossen. 

“I know now who you are,” she exclaimed glow¬ 
ingly. “You are the little boy in that painting, 
grown up!” 

Trujillo bowed in his courtly way. “Si Senorita. 
I am Trujillo Carlos Spinoza. Now I will tell you 
why I am here.” 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 207 


CHAPTER XXI. 

TRUJILLO IDENTIFIED. 

When Trujillo announced that he was indeed 
the lad portrayed in the painting, now grown, Betsy 
Clossen was over-joyed that she had unraveled the 
mystery as she had so desired. Notwithstand¬ 
ing the fact that the Spanish youth closely 
resembled the portrait of the boy in the picture hang¬ 
ing directly above his head, not one of the other 
young people had observed this. 

“Oh, I am so glad!” Babs joyfully exclaimed. 
“Now you will take all this furniture away, won’t 
you? Because it really belongs to your family, you 
know. Mrs. Dartley said that Don Carlos Spinoza 
asked permission to leave this room furnished, 
promising to remove everything in it at his first op¬ 
portunity. That being so long ago we feared no 
one was ever coming to claim it.” 

Before the Spanish lad could reply, Peyton asked: 
“Trujillo, why did you not tell me at once who you 
were ?” 


208 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 

“Merely because I did not know that I had reached 
the ranch which had formerly belonged to my grand¬ 
father. I believed it to be miles north of here. But, 
let me begin at the beginning of my story. When 
we left this place years ago with my grandfather, 
Don Carlos Spinoza, we all went to Spain, where 
we remained until recently. The sudden death of 
my grandfather followed by a financial crash left my 
mother, sister and me almost penniless. It was then 
that mother told me that I, as the only living grand¬ 
son, was really the owner of a large estate in Mexico, 
which had been a gift to my ancestors from the king 
of Spain and that this land grant could not be con¬ 
fiscated nor sold except with the signed consent of 
the heir thereto. 

“When I inquired why they had left this rich 
heritage, for the estate is in Sonora and the mines 
are of great value, mother told me, for the first time, 
that we had been political exiles from Mexico. How¬ 
ever, she believed that the government had been com¬ 
pletely changed and that we might now return with 
safety and take possession of the land of our fathers. 
Soon after this we set sail for America, and my 
mother and sister are now in Mexico awaiting my 
return.” 

“But Trujillo, even yet I do not understand the 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 209 


reason for your sojourn here as my overseer/’ Pey¬ 
ton said. 

The Spanish youth smiled. “No, but you will as 
I continue my story. When we reached Mexico City 
we were welcomed by old friends of the family, who 
informed us that soon after our flight our estate had 
been confiscated and occupied by the political enemies 
of my grandfather. On looking into the matter I 
found that this family had papers proving, (or so it 
would seem), that the land grant had really belonged 
to their ancestors and had been usurped by my great 
grandfather. 

“It was evident that we could not disprove their 
claim, as we had no papers whatever to show. Then it 
was that my mother recalled her father’s futile effort 
on the day that he died to tell her of the location of 
some very important papers. So overcome had she 
been with grief that she had been unable to heed even 
the little he could say, and so, when later she tried to 
recall what my grandfather had endeavored to tell 
her, she could not. 

“It was then that I determined to ride across the 
desert, finding, if I could, the ranch to which my 
grandfather had fled when he became a political 
exile. I doubt if I would ever have found my way 
here had it not been that I was driven far from the 


210 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


trail I was following by the wild blizzard which you 
will recall. I at once accepted your offer, partly 
because I needed money to send to my mother, and 
also because I thought I might learn something 
which would enable me to locate the ranch formerly 
belonging to my grandfather. When you told me 
that you had recently come from the East and had 
obtained the ranch from the Dartleys, in whose 
family it had been for many years, I did not question 
you more, not dreaming that this was the place for 
which I was searching. 

“The letter which Pinez was concealing was from 
my mother telling me that she had suddenly recalled 
what her father had said in his last hour. ‘The land 
grant—Three Cross.’ 

“Of course I had often heard you speak of this 
place as The Three Cross Ranch and now, when I 
enter this room for the first time and find myself 
surrounded with portraits of my family, I realize that 
this is where the lost papers are to be found.” 

“Trujillo, why was Pinez searching for those 
papers?” It was Margaret who spoke. The Span¬ 
ish youth turned toward her as he replied: “I believe 
his plan was to find them and then hold them until 
I offered him a large reward.” Then smiling directly 
at Betsy, he added: “Senorita, since you so cleverly 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 211 


discovered my identity, will you not also discover for 
me the hiding place of my land grant ?” 

The little would-be detective felt greatly honored 
to be chosen as aide to the handsome Spanish youth, 
and she determined to make every effort to find the 
hidden papers. 


212 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


CHAPTER XXII. 

SEARCHING FOR THE LAND GRANT. 

Betsy Clossen had hardly slept a wink the 
night following her discovery of the real identity 
of the mysterious Trujillo. She kept thinking and 
thinking of a possible hiding place for the lost 
papers which, when found, would restore to the 
family of Don Carlos Spinoza their rightful estate. 

“How I do hope I may be the one to find them,” 
was her last conscious thought at night and her first 
on waking the next morning. 

It was not yet daybreak, but Betsy quietly arose, 
dressed and tiptoed out of the room without having 
disturbed Margaret from her peaceful slumber. 

Reaching the kitchen, Betsy stood for a moment 
trying to think where she would begin her search. 
Then, suddenly, she remembered something. The 
peon had been trying to pry the stones from the 
walls of the great old fireplace. There might be a 
secret opening with a stone fitted in to conceal it. 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 213 


Lighting a lantern, for it was still dark, Betsy stole 
into the long silent front room, not without many a 
tremor of fear, for, even now, when the mystery 
was nearly solved, the place seemed haunted with 
the many foreign faces gazing down at her from 
the walls. 

Trying not to look at them as they were revealed 
one by one in the dim light of her lantern, Betsy 
went at once to the fireplace. She did not attempt 
to pry out the stones, but tried to find one that 
looked as though it had not been securely fastened 
and could easily be removed. 

However, each stone within her reach was ce¬ 
mented to its neighbor, and, convinced at last that 
her search at the fireplace was to be unrewarded, 
she turned away. Walking to the center of the 
room, she stood looking about, trying to recall all 
of the detective stories she had ever read. 

There was always a secret panel in the wall which 
revealed a hidden treasure if one could but find the 
spring, but these walls were adobe and there were 
no panels. True, there was the small dark cellar 
into which the elevator chair descended, and from 
which spiral ascended, and yet, did she quite dare 
to go down in that dungeon-like place alone while 
the rest of the household slept? Betsy suddenly 


214 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


lifted her head and listened intently. She had 
heard soft foot-steps approaching in the kitchen, 
then the door opened cautiously. It was Margaret 
who appeared, pale and wide eyed. 

“What in the world are you doing here, Betsy?” 
she inquired, as she advanced into the room. “I 
woke up and found you were gone. I thought you 
might be walking in your sleep. You were so rest¬ 
less all night and kept saying things.” 

“What did I say?” Betsy inquired curiously. 

“Nothing that made any sense as far as I could 
tell,” was the reply. “You kept mumbling every 
now and then, but once you sat right up in bed and 
said in the queerest voice: ‘Three crosses. That’s 
where the papers are.’ I shook you and whispered, 
‘Betsy, what are you saying?’ but you lay down 
again and did not reply. Then I realized that you 
had been asleep all of the time.” 

The eyes of the young would-be detective were 
glowing with sudden inspiration. Seizing the won¬ 
dering Margaret by the arm, she exclaimed: 
“Come with me, Megsy!” and before the other girl 
could realize what was happening, she was being 
dragged across the kitchen and out of the house 
where the desert lay silent and uncanny in the 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 215 


deepest darkness of the night, which comes just be¬ 
fore the dawn. 

Margaret, being of a more timid nature, was truly 
frightened when she saw that Betsy was dragging her 
farther^and farther away from the ranch house and 
toward the lonely sand hills. The truth of the 
matter was that at any other time, Betsy would 
have been frightened also, but at present she was 
possessed of just one idea which was that the 
papers for which they were searching were hidden, 
in all probability, at the Shrine of The Three 
Crosses. When Margaret told her what she had 
said in her sleep, Betsy believed that the message 
had come to her as an inspiration, and so sure was 
she of this, that for the moment she had become 
unconscious of fear; too, she had forgotten the 
lean, gaunt wolf of the desert, whose long drawn- 
out wail had so startled her on the occasion of her 
last visit. 

“Betsy, let go of my arm,” Margaret managed 
to gasp, “and tell me where we are going.” Then 
a terrible thought came to Megsy. What if Betsy 
should be walking in her sleep after all, and what 
if she were taking them both to some place where 
harm would befall them. So convinced was Mar¬ 
garet that this was the real explanation of her 


216 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


friend’s actions that she whirled about as soon as 
Betsy loosened the clasp on her arm and raced back 
toward the ranch house. A light appeared in the 
small adobe, then, as she was about to pass, the 
door opened and Trujillo stepped out. In the grey 
light of the early dawn, Margaret’s flying form 
was easily seen and the overseer, much mystified by 
the appearance of one of the girls in such seemingly 
terrorized flight, quickly overtook her. 

“Senorita,” he exclaimed when she turned a 
white face toward him. “What is the matter? 
Where have you been? What have you seen?” 

“Oh, I am so glad you came,” Megsy replied. “I 
was going after Peyton. Betsy Clossen is walk¬ 
ing in her sleep. I just know that she is, and she’ll 
come to some harm if we don’t bring her back. 
She says the queerest things about lost papers being 
hidden at the Shrine of The Three Crosses. I 
never heard of such a place. Did you, Senor?” 

Trujillo replied in the negative. He had never 
heard the peons mention a shrine and surely they 
would know if there were one. 

“Wait here, Senorita, I will get horses and we 
will follow your friend.” 

When Margaret had deserted Betsy, for a mo¬ 
ment the young would-be detective felt a strong de- 


VIRGINIA'S RANCH NEIGHBORS 217 


sire to turn and race after her, but she would not 
permit herself to do this. She was so eager to find the 
lost papers and she was more than ever convinced, 
as she thought about the matter, that they were 
probably near the shrine. This had been the daily 
haunt of the old Don who had prayed that his 
estate might be restored to him. What would be 
more natural than that he would conceal the papers 
there, believing, as he probably did, that his po¬ 
litical enemies when they found him would con¬ 
fiscate the documents, making it impossible for him 
to prove that the land grant had really belonged to 
his ancestors. 

As Betsy neared the lonely sand hills, she 
dreaded more and more the moment when she 
would enter the sheltered dug-out where she had 
found the shrine. She knew that, loud as she 
might call, no one would hear. 

“Oh, I can’t go on! I can’t! I can’t” she ex¬ 
claimed, her fearlessness suddenly deserting her. 
Then it was that she heard something weird indeed. 

In a voice that sounded almost like a mournful 
echo, some one was calling. Then in her heart 
there was a sudden joyful realization of the truth. 
Some one was shouting her name and the sand hills 


218 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


were sending back the echo: “Betsy, where are 
you?” 

“Here! Here!” she replied as she ran out to 
meet the approaching riders. Of course she might 
have known that Margaret would soon return with 
one of the boys. 

She was glad to recognize that the other rider 
was Trujillo. As they drew near, the Spanish 
youth saw that the girl standing alone near the sand 
hills did not look as courageous as her fearless 
actions had implied. Instead her face was pale, her 
eyes wide, although her expression was one of glad¬ 
ness, because she was no longer alone. 

Betsy was not asleep, of that Trujillo was con¬ 
vinced. Leaping to the ground, he exclaimed: 
“Senorita, what mad fancy brought you to this 
lonely place before the dawning of the day?” 

“Oh, senor, the papers! I am sure, as sure as one 
can be when one does not really know, that they 
are hidden somewhere near the Shrine of the Three 
Crosses.” 

“Three Crosses?” Margaret repeated. “That is 
what you said in your sleep.” 

“Where is the shrine, senorita?” Trujillo in¬ 
quired. Betsy led the way between the sand hills to 
the small dug-out in which were three large wooden 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 219 


crosses. One had fallen to the sand, another leaned 
over, but the third stood erect. Trujillo bared his 
head and knelt upon the sand for a moment in 
prayer. The girls could understand that the lad 
must indeed feel awed to find himself before the 
shrine which had been so often visited by his grand¬ 
father, Don Carlos Spinoza. He soon arose and 
when he turned toward them they knew that he had 
been deeply affected. Then in a tone of conviction 
he said: 

“Senorita, your dream, I am sure, is to be ful¬ 
filled. My grandfather’s last words were: ‘The 
land grant at the Three Crosses.’ If he had meant 
at the Three Cross ranch, he would not have used 
the plural.” 

Then Trujillo stood gazing about him, thinking 
intently. He was trying to decide the probable 
hiding place of the document he sought. Suddenly 
his thought was interrupted by an exclamation 
from Betsy, the girl was gazing as though fascinated 
at the large wooden cross standing erect between 
the two that had fallen. 

“Senor,” she said, “there must be some reason 
why that cross in the center has stood while the 
others have not. It must have a firmer foundation. 
Do you not think so?” 


220 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


“I do indeed,” was the reply of the youth, who 
at once knelt and began digging at the base of the 
cross. The sand on top was soft, but, as he ad¬ 
vanced, he found that it became more difficult to 
remove. The action of the rain and sun during 
the ten years since the cross had been erected had 
hardened it until it was the nature of sand stone. 

He arose. “Senorita Betsy,” he said, “our sur¬ 
mise was not correct after all. There seems to be 
nothing holding this cross but the hardened sand.” 

Betsy was keenly disappointed, although she was 
not entirely convinced. Trujillo left the girls 
standing alone while he advanced farther into the 
cave-like dug-out. It extended deeper into the 
sand hills than he had at first supposed. He did 
not advance far, however, but stopped suddenly 
and gazed intently into the interior, and then, as¬ 
suming an attitude of seeming indifference, he re¬ 
turned. He did not wish to startle the girls by 
telling them that he had seen two green eyes gleam¬ 
ing in the darkness at the back of the cave. He be¬ 
lieved the creature to be either a mountain lion or 
a coyote, which of late had been killing the young 
calves. 

“Senoritas,” he said in a voice which did not be¬ 
tray his real concern, “our friends at the ranch 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 221 


house will be troubled because we do not return. 
The breakfast hour is long passed. I suggest that 
we come here later in the day, bringing with us a 
pick and shovel that we may make a thorough in¬ 
vestigation.” 

As he spoke, he led the girls away from the 
crosses to the place where the ponies were. 

“Promise me you won’t search for the papers un¬ 
less I am with you,” Betsy implored. The Span¬ 
ish youth smiled at the pretty, flushed face of the 
pleading girl, as he replied: “I promise, Senorita.” 

All that morning Betsy watched and waited. 
She almost lost faith in the promise of Trujillo 
when, at last, she beheld him returning from the 
sand hills, accompanied by Peyton, but when she 
saw that they were armed with guns and did not 
carry a shovel or pick, she knew that they had been 
on some other mission. 

Trujillo rode to the ranch house and entering the 
living room, he said to the eager girl: “If you are 
ready, Senorita Betsy, we will go at once.” 

Margaret and Virginia were busily employed in 
the kitchen, but they glanced up when they heard 
the cantering of horses’ hoofs beneath the window. 

“I wonder where Betsy and Trujillo are going,” 


222 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


Virg said. Margaret, who had been sworn to 
secrecy, did not reply. 

“Oh, I presume they are still searching for the 
land grant papers,” Megsy said. “I’d heaps rather 
be in this sunny, comfortable kitchen making pies, 
wouldn’t you, Virg?” 

The older girl smiled. “Perhaps it is well that 
we have different interests,” she replied. “Some of 
us like to do adventurous things and some of us like 
to do the quiet, homely things, but I really enjoy 
both the desert life and then home life.” Then she 
added, with one of her radiant smiles: “I do be¬ 
lieve, Megsy, that I am a natural born enjoyer.” 

“You are indeed,” her friend responded, admir¬ 
ingly. “You always seem so happy and contented, 
Virg, wherever you are. Tell me your secret.” 

Virginia put her arm about Margaret and drew 
her down to the sunny window-seat, as she replied: 
“Mother often told me that we ought to let our 
lives blossom as a flower unfolds, just peacefully 
and trustingly, enjoying the song of a bird, and the 
warmth of the sun and whatever beauty is near us. 
Many people try to force their life blossoms open 
and are so continually reaching for something be¬ 
yond, that they never really enjoy the loveliness 
that is near them and so they become worried and 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 223 


weary. Every morning I ask myself: “What hap¬ 
piness can I find and give today in the place 
where lam? That keeps me contented and happy.” 
Then springing up, she laughingly added: “Yum! 
Doesn't the pie smell good? I do hope everyone 
will be here in time for lunch.” But it was long 
after the lunch hour before Betsy and Trujillo re¬ 
turned. 

In the meantime Betsy and Trujillo had reached 
the sand hills and were standing in front of the 
three crosses. Trujillo glanced into the cave be¬ 
yond the shrine. Little did his companion know 
that in the darkness there was a newly made grave. 

At Betsy's suggestion he began at once to dig 
beneath the middle cross. The pick was needed to 
break the sand stone, but suddenly it struck some¬ 
thing that did not break. One corner of an iron 
box was revealed, which however, was so firmly 
imbedded in the rock that it took a long time to en¬ 
tirely free it. Betsy, after the first exultant ex¬ 
clamation, had stood silently watching. 

How she did hope that this box contained the 
land grant document that the mother and sister of 
Trujillo might have their home restored to them. 

When at last the box was freed, they both knelt 
beside it to see if the key hole was as queerly shaped 


224 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


as was the key that the mother of Trujillo had given 
him. When they found that it fitted exactly, 
Betsy’s joy could no longer be restrained, and leap¬ 
ing up, she clapped her hands and uttered varied 
exclamations of delight. 

Trujillo glanced at her with a happy smile. 
“Senorita,” he said, “before I open this box, I want 
you to promise me something. If the papers are 
here, and if our home is restored, will you and your 
friends come some day, and visit us? My mother 
and my sister Carmelita will welcome you gladly.” 

Then the key turned and the box was opened. 
There was a glad cry from the girl who had been 
watching breathlessly, for there lay a packet of 
yellowing papers. Placing them in his pocket, the 
Spanish lad rose and held out his hand to his 
flushed and excited companion. “Senorita Betsy,” 
he said, his melodious voice tense with feeling, “I 
thank you for your interest and my mother and 
sister will want to thank you when, with your 
friends, you can visit us.” 

Then leaving the heavy iron box in the sand by 
the crosses, these two rode back to the ranch house 
to tell the others that, at last, the long lost papers 
had been found. 

“I shall leave for Mexico tomorrow if Monsieur 



There lay a packet of yellowing- papers. 

(Page 224) (“Virginia’s Ranch Neighbors .") 









VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 225 


Peyton can spare me, but before I go I shall return 
alone to the shrine and leave the three crosses 
standing, firm and erect, in the memory of my; 
grandfather.” 

And this Trujillo did, going to the shrine at sun¬ 
rise on the following morning. Then directly after 
breakfast, the Spanish youth rode away to the 
south. 

“Girls,” Betsy cried, “how I do wish, before I 
have to return East, that we might visit the beauti¬ 
ful Carmelita Spinoza. 

“Stranger things than that have happened,” Vir¬ 
ginia replied. 


226 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


CHAPTER XXIII. 

ALARM ABOUT MALCOLM. 

A few days after the departure of Trujillo, Vir¬ 
ginia remarked one morning at breakfast, “Barbara, 
I feel much as you did when you were with us at 
V. M., a great anxiety, which I cannot understand, 
to return home and see if all is well with Malcolm. 
The truth is I have been away from him and from 
dear old Uncle Tex for so many, many months, that 
I feel sure they were sorry to have me desert them, 
and, so, if Margaret and Betsy are willing, I think 
we would better return to V. M. today.” 

The pretty face of Babs plainly showed her dis¬ 
appointment, and Virginia hastened to add, “Won’t 
you come with us, Barbara, or, if not that, perhaps, 
Betsy would like to make you a longer visit here at 
Three Cross.” 

A sudden hopeful brightening in the blue eyes of 
Barbara brought from her dear friend Betsy an im¬ 
mediate acceptance of the plan, and, so, an hour 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 227 


later, that they might start before the sun was high, 
the two who were departing bade goodbye to the 
three who were to remain and rode away, looking 
back often to wave and smile. 

When at last they had crossed the ridge which hid 
the Three Cross Ranch from their view and were 
riding along the level desert, Margaret looked 
anxiously, inquiringly at her friend. 

“Dear, you seem very thoughtful. Are you 
troubled about anything in particular ?” 

The questioner was more than ever puzzled when 
she saw the morning glow in the truly beautiful face 
that was turned toward her. 

“No, sister of mine, I was thinking of something 
very wonderful, but just for a time it must be my 
secret.” 

Virginia was recalling an hour that she and Pey¬ 
ton had spent alone the evening before, sitting on a 
huge boulder that was near the ranch house. It 
had been a gloriously moonlighted night, and, for 
a long time, they had remained silent, just content, 
it would seem, to be together in that truest and rarest 
of all forms of comradeship. Then quietly Virg had 
led Peyton to talk of his ranch, his interest, and of 
what he had done while she had been away. 

Somehow, in the magic of the loveliness all about 


228 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


them, it had seemed but natural that the lad should 
tell her of his love. 

“May I hope, Virginia, that some day, you will be 
here with me,—with us ?” And Virginia’s reply had 
been seriously given. “Ask me that again when I 
am eighteen, will you Peyton?” 

And with that answer the lad had to be content, 
but in it he found much to cause him to rejoice; 
much that gave him hope. 

It was a strange coincident, that, at that moment, 
as Virginia was thinking over the conversation of 
the night before, Megsy should ask. “Virg, who do 
you suppose will be the first girl of our acquaintance 
to marry?” 

Her companion smiled, “Why dear, I don’t know,” 
she replied. “Babs and Betsy are far too young, 
someway, to even think of such things. Betsy 
declares that she is to be wedded to her career and 
Barbara, though she likes Benjy Wilson has not as 
yet even thought of romance.” 

“Well, I am sure it will not be me.” Virg thought 
she heard Margaret sigh and this puzzled her. Quick 
was her response. “I’m not so sure of that, Megsy. 
You are so sweet and lovable, I know you will be 
stolen away from me long before I am ready to 
lose you.” Then, as they reached the top of the 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 229 


mesa, she continued happily, “Oh, how good it is to 
see V. M. Ranch again. This time I do hope that 
brother of mine will be at home to greet us. I have 
had so much change and recreation this past year 
that I actually feel guilty. It has been all work and 
responsibility for Malcolm.” 

“I have a plan to suggest.’' Megsy said. “Let’s 
insist that Malcolm take a two weeks’ vacation and 
go away somewhere so isolated that he could not 
possibly receive there a message about the ranch/’ 
Virg shook her head. “I don’t believe that we 
could persuade my brother to go,” she replied. 

“I’m going to try,” was Margaret’s quiet response. 


230 VIRGINIA'S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


CHAPTER XXIV. 

AND THE REASON FOR IT. 

The girls entered the ranch house living room and 
stood looking about. 

“How queer not to hear a sound," Margaret said. 
“Why does it seem so much more still than usual 
do you suppose?" 

“Perhaps because we do not hear the shouting of 
the Mahoy children," Virg replied. “They are 
usually at play in the door yard at this hour. Let’s 
go over to their home and ask Mrs. Mahoy where 
everyone is." 

With a heart filled with an unaccountable fore¬ 
boding, Virg led the way to the small adobe back of 
the big ranch house and nearer the dry creek. 

As they approached they saw the four small chil¬ 
dren seated on the porch step huddled together. The 
oldest girl was softly crying, the two younger ones 
looked frightened, as though something had hap¬ 
pened which they could not understand, and Patsy, 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 231 


though his lips were quivering, seemed to be trying 
not to cry. 

Virginia leaped forward, and kneeling put her 
arms about the sobbing girl, then, looking at the 
boy, she said, “Patsy, lad, what has happened? Is 
your mother—” 

She said no more, for the door opened and the 
little Irish woman appeared. She had on her hat 
and carried a bundle. The kneeling girl sprang to 
her feet “Mrs. Mahoy, ,, she said with a new alarm 
in her heart, “where are you going? Has anything 
happened in the mine?” 

The little woman nodded. “Indeed there has, 
Miss Virginia. It's caved in somewheres. A boy 
from Slater’s just rode over to get you, but bein’ as 
you wasn’t here, I was starting mesilf. It’s thank¬ 
ful I am as ye’ve come, for I was beside mesilf en- 
toirely not knowin’ what to do wid the children. Me 
Pat is all right, the saints be praised, but—” she 
hesitated. 

“Malcolm, what about Malcolm?” It was Mar¬ 
garet who asked the question, her eyes thought of 
what might have happened to her guardian. 

The little Irish woman hardly knew how to reply. 
“The boy said as how they hadn’t found him yet,” 
she told them, “but, like as not, they have by this 


232 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


time,” she hastened to add. “Uncle Tex went right 
back with the boy an' I was goin’ mesilf with lini¬ 
ments and bandages.” 

“I will take them, Mrs. Mahoy. You stay with 
the children.” Then turning to the other girl, Vir¬ 
ginia added: “Margaret, perhaps you would better 
remain at home. I’ll send the Slater boy back with 
a message as soon as I know that all is well.” 

She glanced anxiously at her adopted sister. There 
had been a long ride already that morning and 
Megsy was not as strong as the other. 

“I am going with you,” was the quiet reply, and 
Virg knew that when Margaret spoke that way there 
was nothing more to be said. 

Mrs. Mahoy had disappeared, but was quickly 
back in the open doorway, her hat removed. “Miss 
Virginia,” she said, “I’ve put the kettle on and in 
a minute now I’ll have a snack for you to be eatin’ 
before yez start on the ride to the mine.” 

Half an hour later the girls were again in the sad¬ 
dle and were following the trail across Dry Creek 
toward Seven Peak Range. Virginia’s heart was 
filled with self-reproach, because she had permitted 
Malcolm to carry more than his share of the respon¬ 
sibility, and yet, how could she have helped it? It 
had been all work and no play for him ever since 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 233 


their father died. Suddenly she realized that Mar¬ 
garet was riding close at her side. 

“Dear,” Megsy said, and there was a quiver in her 
voice, “try not to grieve yet. Wait until we know 
more. I feel sure that all is well with my guardian.” 
But was all well with the brave, strong, quiet Ma« 
colm? 


234 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


CHAPTER XXV. 

AN HOUR OF SUSPENSE. 

As the girls neared the Second Peak their anxiety 
increased. They could see men hurrying about near 
the mine and they urged their horses to greater speed. 
However, one man, chancing to look in their direc¬ 
tion, seemed to be much concerned because of their 
rapid approach and, seizing a red flag, he climbed 
out on the over-hanging rocks and waved frantically, 
while another, leaping to his side, motioned the girls 
to stay back. 

They then drew rein and Margaret exclaimed: 
“What can it mean, do you suppose ?” 

“I think they must be going to blast,” Virginia 
replied, her face white as she shaded her eyes and 
gazed intently in the direction of the seemingly ex¬ 
cited men. 

“But, how can they blast if Malcolm, if anyone 
is buried in the mine?” 

“I don’t understand,” Virg told her, “but I’m not 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 235 


going to worry more than I can help until I know 
that there is really something to worry about.” 

“One of the men is mounting a horse now,” Mar¬ 
garet said. “Perhaps he is coming to explain to us 
what is happening.” 

This surmise proved true, for they saw a cowboy 
approaching them on a racing mustang. “It’s Rusty 
Pete from the Slater Ranch. At least our suspense 
will soon be over, for he will tell us what it all 
means.” 

It was very evident by the expression on the face 
of the cowboy that he dreaded telling the message 
he had been sent to convey. So pre-occupied and 
concerned was he that he jerked upon the reins of 
his mustang in a manner which his steed wrongly 
interpreted and the result was that it reared and 
plunged and arrived in the neighborhood of the girls 
in so nervous a state that it was with difficulty 
quieted long enough for the rider to speak. 

“What have you to tell us, Pete?” Virginia eager¬ 
ly inquired, when at last the restive horse was for 
a moment standing with all four feet upon the 
ground, although it continued to whistle and paw 
the sand with its right fore foot. 

Rusty Pete was evidently at a loss for words to 
express his message. “Your brother, Miss Virginia,” 


236 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


he began, “that is, they’re going to blast,” he hurried 
on as though he couldn’t complete the sentence he 
had started, “and they sent me to say, don’t come 
nearer, till they signal.” 

Virg, believing that the cowboy was about to ride 
away again, leaned over and put her hand on his arm. 
“Tell me, Pete,” she implored, “what has happened 
to my brother?” 

Before the cowboy could reply there was a flash 
of fire on Second Peak, an upheaval of rock and 
smoke, and a thundering noise that reverberated 
through the mountains echoing back from the far 
peaks, and then a shower of sand and bits of stone 
fell all about them. The horses, stung by the sharp 
edges of this unexpected fusilade, leaped and 
plunged, and it was sometime before they could be 
quieted. Excited shouts from the mine then at¬ 
tracted their attention. They turned to see another 
rider approaching them with all haste. 

“It’s Uncle Tex, and he has good news, I am sure,” 
Virg exclaimed, “for see, he is waving his sombrero 
and shouting joyfully.” 

Virginia leaped to the ground and ran toward the 
approaching horseman, who also dismounted and 
took the sobbing girl in his arms. 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 237 


“Uncle Tex! Uncle Tex!” she cried “Tell me, has 
anything happened to my brother?” 

“Thar! Thar! Miss Virginia, dearie,” the old man 
said, consolingly, though tears were trembling on 
his wrinkled cheeks, “something did happen to Mas¬ 
ter Malcolm, but he’s all right now. We sure had to 
take an awful big chance blastin’ that way, but we 
didn’t durst wait to ask what you’d have us do, we 
just had to do it, and Heaven be praised ’twas the 
right thing. Master Malcolm’s safe and they’ll be 
fetchin’ him along in a minute. 

“You see, Miss Virginia, dearie, ’twas this a-way,” 
the old man continued. “Master Malcolm was bent 
on goin’ into a new tunnel along side of a vein that 
had just been opened. Pat Mahoy warned him as 
’twasn’t safe yet, bein’ as the struts weren’t all up, but 
Master Malcolm said he was in a hurry to get back 
to V. M., to be thar when you gurls returned, and so 
he took the chance. Wall, Pat Mahoy says ’twas 
just as he prognosticated. Master Malcolm hadn’t 
no more’n disappeared into the new tunnel when 
there was a rumblin’ noise as Pat knew meant 
trouble. He ran shouting, but though he saw Master 
Malcolm turn back ’twas too late. The rocks and 
dirt up above crushed down, shuttin’ him out, but 
more rocks kept slidin’ down and ’twasn’t safe no 


238 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


how. Then ’twas they took the chance to blast the 
big rock from the openin'. When ’twas all over, 
they found Master Malcolm a little way in lying 
white as a ghost and most smothered, seemed like, 
but he came to, quick enough, when he was fetched 
out. Howsomever it will be a long time before he 
gets his strength back, I’m a-thinkin'. He’s all wore 
out anyway. I’ve been noticin’ it for months past, 
but he wouldn’t stop a peggin’, but now I guess as 
he’ll have to take a rest.” 

Virginia saw a slow moving procession leaving the 
mine. She again mounted her pony and rode in that 
direction, closely followed by the others. A wagon 
that was used for hauling timber had been quickly 
changed by the miners into an ambulance, bedding 
having been piled on the cross boards, and, as it 
neared, the girls saw Malcolm lying listless as though 
he were too weary to move. However, when Vir¬ 
ginia rode up alongside, her brother smiled wanly. 

“I’m all right, Sis,” he said. “I tried to get buried 
too soon. I guess.” Then with a sigh as though the 
exertion of speaking had been too much for him, he 
closed his eyes, nor did he open them again during 
the long, slow ride over the desert. 

It was with great difficulty that the crossing of 
the Dry Creek was made, but, in the late afternoon 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 239 


the anxious Mrs. Mahoy saw the procession slowly 
climbing up the sloping trail back of the ranch house. 
She hurried out to meet them. 

“Was me Pat all right?” was her first query, and 
when she had received a reply in the affirmative, the 
little woman added: “It’s bakin’ I’ve been all the 
arternoon, Miss Virginia, for I was thinkin’ as thar’d 
be many to feed.” 

“Thank you for you thoughtfulness,” the young 
mistress of V. M. said, with sincere appreciation. 

Margaret assisted Mrs. Mahoy to spread the many 
good things on the long kitchen table that the miners 
who had accompanied them might have a hearty sup¬ 
per before their return to Second Peak. 

Uncle Tex and Virginia meanwhile helped Mal¬ 
colm into his own bed, and for the first time in many 
years the lad turned toward his sister and said: 
“Virgie, I’m so tired, tired clear through.” 

“I know you are brother, dear,” Virginia said, as 
she knelt by his side and held his listless hand to her 
cheek. “I haven’t mothered you as much as I should 
have done, but from now on you are going to just 
rest. I don’t know yet what we’re going to do, but 
it’s going to be something different and wonderful.” 


240 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


CHAPTER XXVI. 

MAKING PLANS. 

“Where, Oh where shall we take my brother for 
a complete rest?” Virginia had softly closed the 
door of Malcolm’s bedroom, having told that giant 
of a lad that he must sleep all of the afternoon. 

He had laughed at the suggestion. It did indeed 
seem preposterous. In all of his nineteen years, he 
had never slept in the day-time. When his sister 
had left him, he determined to rise, dress and steal 
out of the window and down to the corral, but 
when he had tried to stand, he found that he was 
not as strong as he had supposed, and he was 
actually glad to lie down again, and, being truly 
weak and weary, he was soon asleep. 

Margaret looked up from her sewing. She and 
Virginia were planning to cut over two of their 
dresses that were still pretty, but which they had 
outgrown. Megsy’s was to be for six year old 
Jane Wallace, while Virg was to make one for ten 
year old Sari. 

“Are we really going to take my guardian some- 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 241 


where?” she asked eagerly, adding at once. ‘‘I do 
hope so, Virg! What a heavy burden of respon¬ 
sibility he has had since your father died. I don’t 
know where you would find another boy, only six¬ 
teen as he was then, who would have the courage 
to attempt to run a big ranch and compete with men 
old enough to be his father.” Margaret’s voice 
had a ring of enthusiasm in which there was 
mingled much of admiration and perhaps something 
more. 

But no praise of her brother seemed to the lis¬ 
tener to be more than he deserved. Seating herself 
on the window seat, she took from a basket, (which 
had been made in the Indian village), a pretty gold 
brown dress. Holding it up, she asked: “Megsy, 
don’t you think this especially suits little Sari? 
There’s a glint of gold in that brown hair of hers 
and I’m not at all sure but that there is in her 
thoughtful eyes as well.” Her companion nodded. 
‘Tm glad I have outgrown this rose colored mus¬ 
lin,” Margaret added. “J ane y will just love it, and 
she’ll look like a little wild rose-bud in it. I think 
she’s the sweetest child, and Oh Virg, now since 
that nice Gordon Traylor helped Mr. Wallace to 
perfect his water locating device that forlorn 
family in Hog Canon won’t be so poor, will they?” 


242 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


But Virginia shook her head as though she were 
not at all sure that immediate prosperity would fol¬ 
low.” Of course they have water now on their 
place, but water won't buy cattle, nor food, nor 
clothes. I fear that prosperity is still far removed. 
Unless,” Virg had dropped her sewing on her lap 
and was gazing thoughtfully out of the window, 
“unless Mr. Wallace can induce some rich men to 
be pardners with him. Without capital, he cannot 
make his invention of much value to him.” 

“Hark, what’s all the shouting?” Margaret 
looked up to inquire.” It sounds like wild Indians 
let loose. Isn’t it a shame, whatever it is, for it 
surely will waken Malcolm and we did so want him 
to sleep.” 

Virginia had leaped to the door to see who was 
coming. “Oh, good,” she cried. “It’s Babs and 
Betsy and Peyton no less. Of course they don’t 
know about brother and so would not think of be¬ 
ing quiet.” 

Skipping out on the wide veranda, Megsy and 
Virg waved to the three who were galloping down 
the mesa trail, but they had ceased their shouting, 
having correctly interpreted Virg’s signal when she 
put her fingers to her lips. 

“Is anyone sick?” Barbara inquired as she dis- 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 243 

mounted and gave the mistress of V. M. a girlish 
hug. 

The other two listened anxiously. “Yes, that is, 
not exactly sick, but I’ll tell you all about it when 
you come in. There's Patsy Mahoy.” The small 
Irish boy came on a run when Virg beckoned, and 
he was proud indeed when she asked him to take 
the three ponies to the corral. “Now we’ll go in 
and I’ll tell you what has happened. My, Betsy, 
you and Babs look flushed and warm. It’s pretty 
hot riding so far in the sun. Sit down, everybody, 
and I’ll go to our cooling cellar and bring up some 
nice lemonade that Megsy and I made only an hour 
ago, thinking that brother might like some every 
now and then.” 

“Let me get it,” Margaret was on her feet as she 
spoke. “You can tell the story of the mine much 
better than I can.” And so Virg took the chair 
her adopted sister had vacated and told to anxious 
listepers how, when she and Margaret had returned 
from the Three Cross Ranch, there had been no one 
at all at V. M. Then from poor frightened Mrs. 
Mahoy they had learned of the cave-in over at the 
mine. 

“Oh Virg!” Babs cried in alarm. “Your brother 
wasn’t hurt, was he?” 


244 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


“No, thank heaven, not really hurt,” the girl re¬ 
plied with fervent gratitude, “but he was buried in 
that smothering place for several hours. Uncle 
Tex thinks there must have been an air current 
somewhere, or Malcolm could not have lived until 
they blasted.” 

“Blasted!” Peyton repeated in surprise. “That 
was taking a big chance, wasn’t it ?” 

“Yes, indeed! I shudder to think of it now, but 
then, when it was the only thing that could possibly 
save my brother, it had to be done of course.” 

“And you say he wasn’t hurt in the least?” 

“Not hurt, but he is so weak that he cannot 
stand alone, or rather he could not then, and now 
he is asleep I am sure.” Then turning to the lis¬ 
tening lad, Virginia asked, “Peyton, where would 
you suggest that brother be taken to have as com¬ 
plete a rest as he needs. I would like to go to some 
place where even the scenery would be different and 
where he couldn’t see a cow or a cowboy or any¬ 
thing that would suggest his own occupation.” 

For a thoughtful moment the lad looked steadily 
into the questioning eyes of the girl he loved. 
“Virginia,” he said at last, “if I were as tired as 
Malcolm is, I know where I would want you to 
take me.” 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 245 


If there was an emphasis on the pronoun, it was 
unnoticed by the others, but a sudden flush in the 
cheeks of Virginia and a tender light in the eyes of 
the lad told more than mere words could. 

But when the girl spoke, it was as though her 
only thought had been her brother’s welfare, as, in¬ 
deed, it really had been. 

“Once, in the days of my rambling life,” it was 
the first time that Peyton had ever referred to the 
time when he had run away from home because 
his father was unkindly severe, “I boarded the 
train in Boston and went to the end of the line, so 
to speak, and found myself in paradise, if ever there 
was one on this earth of ours.” 

“Oh, then you must have been in California,” 
Margaret leaned forward to exclaim. “That, of 
course, would be the end of the line if you were 
crossing the continent, for there is nothing beyond 
but ocean. I went there once with Mother when 
she was trying to get well, and Oh, how wonderful 
it is! I’ve often hoped that I might go again, al¬ 
though I would not want to revisit the same place, 
not where little Mother and I were together.” 

“Of course not, dear,” the thoughtful Virginia 
had slipped an arm about her adopted sister. Then 
glancing again at the lad who seldom looked at any- 


246 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


thing or anyone but her, she asked. “Then you 
think California the best place for us to take 
brother for a vacation and to get back his 
strength ?” 

“I do indeed. That's where I’d want to go. 
Hark!” the lad lifted a finger and listened. “I 
think I hear Malcolm calling.” 

“Oh yes, he must have awakened.” Virginia 
was skipping toward the closed door at the opposite 
end of the long living room. “If he is awake Pey¬ 
ton, I will call you.” Then the door opened and 
closed again. The lad walked to the window and 
looked out. How all of the brightness of the room 
had seemed to vanish when Virginia left it, he was 
thinking. Then he rebuked himself, for dearly he 
loved his pretty little “Dresden China” sister. He 
had heard the girls call her that, because she 
seemed so breakable and withal so exquisitely pink 
and blue and gold, with her fluffy sunlit curls, her 
eyes that were like June skies and her rose-bud 
complexion which the winds of the desert did not 
seem to want to tan. He did indeed, love her, but 
his love for Virginia was different, so very dif¬ 
ferent! But God had planned it that way. Such 
love indeed was a gift from the Father of them all 
and was to be treated reverentially, although, who 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 247 


could treat it otherwise? It was with a start that 
the lad whirled when he heard his name called. 
Virginia had returned and was standing by the 
table pouring lemonade into a glass. “Brother has 
awakened and I have propped him up on two pil¬ 
lows,she was saying. “Will you take this to him, 
Peyton, but don’t tell him as yet that we are plan¬ 
ning to take him away from his beloved ranch, for, 
if you do, he will declare that everything will go to 
pieces if he isn’t here to hold it together. We’ve 
got to plan a way to make him think, that, for a 
time, V. M. will be better off, under different man¬ 
agement.” Virg’s smile, as she handed the brim¬ 
ming glass to the lad, was so frank and friendly 
that he wondered, if, after all, it was merely com¬ 
radeship that she felt for him. Well, he could wait. 
He had promised never again to mention his love 
for her until she was eighteen and she was but 
seventeen now. However, hard it might be, he 
meant to keep that promise. Of one think he was 
sure. Even though Virg might not care for him 
in the big way yet, neither did she love any other 
lad. When the door had closed behind Peyton, 
Betsy cried. “Oh good, here comes Slim from the 
station and he has the Mail Bag.” 


248 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


CHAPTER XXVII. 

UNEXPECTED NEWS. 

“Letters!! Letters! Who wants a letter?” 
Betsy Clossen had skipped out to the wide veranda 
to receive the mail bag from the good-looking young 
cowboy Slim. 

“I do!” ‘Til take three!” Megsy and Babs cried 
in chorus. 

“Oh Barbara, what a piggy-wig you are. Three 
indeed! Now, just to punish you, it’s Virg who 
shall have the three and you only one.” Betsy had 
poured the contents of the bag on the big library 
table and was looking it over. Margaret and Vir¬ 
ginia had returned to their sewing. That latter 
maid found herself strangely indifferent to whether 
or no there would be a letter for her. This she could 
easily understand since, was she not at home with 
Uncle Tex and Malcolm, and the girls she liked 
best were right then in the room with her, and Pey¬ 
ton would not need to write her the weekly letter 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 249 


she had received while she had been away at board¬ 
ing school. Betsy interrupted her thoughts by say¬ 
ing: “I was a prophet! Here are three letters for 
Miss Virginia Davis. Guess, Virg, if you can, who 
they may be from? ,, 

That tall slender maiden, being addressed 
dropped her sewing in her lap, as she replied, “I’d 
like to hear from dear Mrs. Martin. Is there a for¬ 
eign stamp on any of them, Betsy? Our beloved 
principal must be in Japan, I suppose, about now, 
on her around the world tour.” 

“Nary a foreign stamp. Well, since you can’t 
guess. I’ll give them to you and when you open 
them up you will know who they are from.” 

“What a brilliant remark!” Barbara teased, but 
Virg having accepted the letters Betsy had handed 
her, attracted the attention of them all by exclaim¬ 
ing, “Well, if this isn’t the queerest! I’m just ever 
so sure that the handwriting on this envelope is 
Winona’s, but it is postmarked Red Riverton. 
What can she be doing up there? Ever since she 
wrote that she was back on the desert with that nice 
Indian lad, Fleet Foot, I have been hoping that she 
would come over to see us.” 

As she talked, Virginia was opening the envelope. 


250 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


The first line in the letter caused her to cry joy¬ 
fully, ‘‘Girls! Girls! Listen to this!” 

“Dear White Lilly, ,, the letter began. “I was 
married yesterday—” 

“What! Winona married to Fleet Foot? ,, Mar¬ 
garet and Betsy exclaimed in excited chorus. 

“Fm sure I don’t know,” Virg told them. “Just 
wait a minute and we’ll find out.” Her eyes went 
rapidly down the sheet and then turning she gave 
Margaret an ecstatic little hug. “Oh, what glorious 
news! Think of it! Our wonderful Winona has 
married that splendid Harry Wilson. It seems 
that his mother has been ill for a long time and 
Winona has been there as nurse ever since we came 
from school. That’s why we haven’t seen her.” 
Then, turning a page, Virg read aloud: 

“I had never even thought of marrying anyone. 
Of course I knew that most of all I admired Harry, 
but I believed that his mother would want him to 
marry one of his own kind, but, Virginia, can you 
think how great is my happiness when I tell you that 
his mother loves me, really loves me, and asked me 
to be her daughter. 

“I have always been so alone, for my father, Chief 
Grey Hawk, and my brother, Strong Heart, were 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 251 


much away, that it seems strange to me that any¬ 
one should care. 

“I told Harry that much as I love him, I feared 
that it would be hard for me to be as domestic as 
his wife should be, for there are times when I feel 
that I am kin to the wind that sweeps over the 
desert or to the bird that flies where it will. Then 
it was that Harry told me his own good news. He 
has received an appointment as state geologist and 
we are soon to start on horseback (our honeymoon 
we call it) and travel all over Arizona that he may 
obtain specimens of rock to send to Smithsonian 
Institute. 

“We would not go were it not that Mrs. Wilson 
is rapidly regaining her strength and that her re¬ 
cently widowed sister in the East is coming to keep 
house, and to make this her home. 

“I am sorry not to see my school-mates before 
we depart, but that cannot be, as we leave on horse¬ 
back at dawn tomorrow and journey north.” 

There were tears in the eyes of Virginia as she 
lifted them from the letter to look at her friends. 

“How happy they are going to be,” she said, “I 
am glad for them both.” 

“We were wondering who among us would be 


252 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


the first bride,” Betsy remarked. “We little 
thought, did we, that it would be Winona ?” 

Betsy Clossen had recognized her aunt's hand¬ 
writing on one of her letters and so when Margaret 
asked which was to be read next, that maiden 
eagerly announced, “Mine, please, for I do want to 
know what Aunt Laura has to say. If the quaran¬ 
tine has been lifted, she will want me to be coming 
home, and, although I have had the most wonder¬ 
ful time here on the desert, and I am endlessly 
grateful to you, Virginia, for having invited me, 
for you saved me from a most desolate month all 
alone in school, still, of course, if the twins have re¬ 
covered, I do want to spend part of my vacation at 
my mother-aunt’s Cape Cod home.” 

“I know dear,” Virginia replied, as she clasped 
her friend’s hand. “Although other places may be 
interesting, there is no place quite like the one that 
shelters our own home people. Read your letter and 
tell us about it.” 

The missive did not take long to read. 

“Darling girl,” it began. “I rejoice to be able to 
tell you that the quarantine has been lifted and that 
the twins are wild to see their best loved cousin 
Bettykins, and, as for me, my heart is yearning for 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 253 


my sister’s motherless little daughter, so come, dear, 
just as soon as the fastest train bound for the East 
can bring you to three people who so dearly love 
you. 

“One of them being, Your Aunt Laura.” 

“I don’t know whether to laugh or cry,” Betsy 
told them. “I’m so glad somebody loves me that 
way. Mother and Aunt Laura were twins, and she 
seems more like a mother to me than my other two 
aunts, although, they, too, are nice.” Then putting 
her arms impulsively about her hostess, she ex¬ 
claimed, “Virginia, how can I thank you for having 
been so kind, and you, too, Margaret.” She 
reached out and clasped the hand of her other 
friend. Then she asked eagerly: “Virg, shall you 
mind if I begin to pack at once and take the next 
train East?” 

“Of course not, dear, I know just how you feel 
and we will help you, but if you really take the next 
train, we will all have to rush to get you ready.” 

“My letters can wait,” Margaret said unselfishly. 
“They are from members of our Lucky Thirteen 
Club, and although I know that they will be filled 
with jolly news items, they will be just as interest¬ 
ing later.” 


254 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


As Megsy spoke, she placed her unopened letters 
between the pages of a magazine on the table for safe 
keeping and then she joined the other girls who 
were already opening Betsy’s trunk, preparing to 
pack. 

That maiden had skipped to Malcolm’s room to 
tell him the news, but she had found him asleep 
and, knowing that rest was one thing required to 
restore his strength, she had tiptoed out. Three 
hours later, she went again to his door, this time 
her hat and coat on. 

The lad had been informed by his sister of 
Betsy’s sudden and unexpected departure and was 
prepared to say goodbye. 

“Miss Cossen,” he said as he held out his hand, 
“I hear that you are a wonderful detective, and so, 
if we ever have need of your services, may we send 
for you?” 

Betsy laughed. “Indeed yes, and don’t forget,” 
she replied, “for I know that I will be just as wild 
to come back as I am now to go home to Aunt 
Laura and the twins.” 

Another three hours had passed and Margare? 
and Virginia were again in the living room having 
escorted Betsy to Silver Creek Junction, where the 
train, being on time, had borne her away. 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 255 

“Well,” Virginia remarked as she sank down in 
a big easy chair, “what a whirl of a day we have 
had. I am almost dizzy-tired. First there was that 
exciting news about Winona's marriage and then 
for the last six hours we have rushed madly to get 
that dear girl started for the place that is home to 
her. Now the next thing for us to do is to decide 
where we shall take Malcolm for a complete rest.” 


256 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


CHAPTER XXVIII. 

A PLACE TO GO. 

“I like Peyton’s suggestion that we go to 
California. I wish he had been able to stay longer 
and tell us more about what he saw when he was 
there. He might recall just the very place for us 
to take Malcolm,” Megsy said. 

“I invited them to remain all night,” Virg re¬ 
marked as she took up her sewing, “but Peyton 
thinks, now that his trusted overseer, Trujillo, has 
gone back to Mexico, that he had better not leave 
his ranch long at a time until he has another equally 
dependable.” The two of whom they were speak¬ 
ing had ridden back to “Three Cross” when Mar¬ 
garet and Virginia had accompanied Betsy to the 
station at Silver Creek. 

“What did I do with my letters, Virg?” Mar¬ 
garet had suddenly recalled that she had not opened 
her mail. “I put them into something for safe keep¬ 
ing. Oh yes, here they are! Why, I declare. One 
of them is for you.” 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 257 


“Oho, this is great! It's from Eleanor Pettes! 
I was hoping to hear from her soon. She told me 
when she came to our closing exercises at Vine 
Haven that she had written a story which she be¬ 
lieved to be the very best thing she had ever done 
and she was actually going to send it to a real mag¬ 
azine. I suppose by now she has heard from it 
How I do hope that it was accepted.” 

“Eleanor writes so exceptionally well and had so 
much experience editing the school magazine be¬ 
fore she went to college prep that I am sure, in time, 
she is bound to succeed,” Margaret was remarking 
when her companion, having opened the letter, 
uttered a little squeal of delight. 

“What is it, Virg? Has Eleanor sold her story? 
I am sure by the way your eyes are shining that 
there must be good news.” 

Virginia had continued to silently read down the 
first page, then she looked up, her face aglow. 
“Good? It’s glorious! Just wait until you hear.” 
Then she read aloud from the delicately scented 
missive: 

“Dear Kindred Spirit, 

“If I were not afraid of falling from the literary 
pedestal upon which I know that you two girls have 


258 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


placed me, I would begin this letter with some ex¬ 
pressive school girl slang. ‘Gee whiliker, but it's 
corking good news/ But since Betsy Clossen can 
use that more naturally than I can, I’ll simply say 
that I am amazed beyond comprehending what this 
wonderful thing is which has happened. I find my¬ 
self rubbing my eyes and pinching myself as did 
Alice in Wonderland. ‘Can it be really true?' I 
ask myself a dozen times a day. Then, fearing it to 
be but a dream, or a plot that I have planned for a 
story, I go again to my desk and take the letter 
therefrom and re-read what it has to say on the sub¬ 
ject. You never could guess what it is, no one 
could. I couldn’t myself if I didn’t know, so I will 
have to tell you. 

“I have inherited Something. I just had to start 
that with a capital letter, for the inheritance surely 
deserves it. In fact it ought to be all capital letters. 
Have I sufficiently aroused your curiosity? Well, 
then, harken and you shall hear. 

“A great-aunt of my Dad’s (goodness knows 
how old she was, I don’t), has left me her estate. 
Think of that, Virginia, if you can grasp a thing 
so stupendous. I’ll agree it’s very hard to believe 
all at once and sudden like. This same estate, it 
seems, is located in the Garden of Eden, not figur- 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 259 


atively, but really true. The name of the place, 
however, on the railroad map (I don’t suppose it’s 
big enough to be on a school geography), is San 
Ceritos and it’s in California, that Paradise-on- 
earth that you and I have heard so much about. 
When I say that I am wild to behold it with my 
own eyes, I only faintly describe my feelings. 
Think of it, Virg, you who love nature as much as 
I do, this estate of mine has mountains to shelter 
it at the back and it’s wooded acres slope down to 
the sea. Dad says that the water in that sheltered 
cove is at times as blue as the Mediterranean, and I 
own it; or, that is, I own half of it, but the mys¬ 
terious part of all this is that I don’t know who 
owns the other half and I haven’t any way of find¬ 
ing out. The will is the queerest! 

“Dad says that his Great-Aunt Myra was aiways 
called eccentric by everyone who knew her. It 
seems that when she was a young girl she was en¬ 
gaged, but on the very eve of her wedding day 
something happened. Dad doesn’t know what, but 
his Great-Aunt Myra never married. 

“Dad’s parents came East when he was a little 
fellow, and, although he heard now and then of this 
aunt who had shut herself up in her mountain and 
sea-encircled home, neither he, nor any of the kin 


260 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


that he knew of, had really corresponded with her. 
She didn’t even know of my existence until last year 
and it was just the merest chance that she learned 
of it even then. It happened this way: You re¬ 
member last winter in school when we girls had 
such a fad for looking up our family trees. Well, 
when I came home for the holidays, I asked Dad 
to tell me about every Pettes he could think of. It 
was a stormy night and we sat in the cosy library 
by the fireplace and I wrote down on a pad all the 
names and addresses he could recall. At last he 
came to this great-aunt. He just happened to 
think of her, and, girls, what if he hadn’t? I de¬ 
cided to write to each of these relatives, and, since 
Aunt Myra was the oldest living branch on the 
family tree, out of courtesy I began with her and 
sent her my picture, the one I had taken last May 
Day at school. I didn’t hear a word in reply, I 
wasn’t even sure that she had received it, until last 
week a legal-looking envelope arrived addressed to 
me. It contained the startling information I have 
just imparted. 

“Well, as I said before, the will of my Dad’s 
Great-Aunt Myra is surely the queerest. One 
might think that the dear old lady was non compos 
mentos , but no, her attorney and servants report 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 261 


that up to the last her mind was sane and sound. 
Of course, I am glad, for, if she had not been men¬ 
tally all right, the will, queer as it is, would have 
been null and void, and your Kindred Spirit would 
not be writing this thrilling epistle to tell you of her 
almost incomprehensible inheritance. 

“The will, of course, is couched in high-sounding 
legal terms, and so I’ll just tell you the gist of it. 

“ T, Myra Pettes, do hereby will and bequeath 
one-half of my estate, located between the Sierra 
Padre Mountains and the sea, to Eleanor Pettes, 
the daughter of my grand-nephew, Oris Pettes, on 
condition that she never opens the locked door of 
the upper front room until she has found Hugh 
Ward, to whom I will and bequeath the other half 
of my estate. When he has been found, they are 
to enter the room together.’ 

“Did you ever hear of anything like that outside 
of a story-book? Of course, in a story queer 
things are to be expected, but in the humdrum life 
of a school girl one doesn’t anticipate occurrences 
so mysterious and exciting. 

“Hugh Ward! Who in the world do you sup¬ 
pose he is ? Dad says he never heard the name be¬ 
fore, and even Great-Aunt Myra’s attorney reports 


262 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


that he has no knowledge whatever of the man, 
young or old. They have advertised in every paper 
in the country, but have had no reply. I suppose he 
is some very old gentleman whom my Aunt Myra 
knew when she was young. Perhaps we ought to 
hunt for him in a ‘home for the aged and infirm/ 

“Well, be that as it may, I am supposed to go 
West and occupy my new possession; that is, all but 
the locked front room, and, since the housekeeper, 
in sending a description of the place, informs me 
that there are twenty rooms, ten of them being sleep¬ 
ing apartments, I presume I will be able to get 
along without entering the one that is locked. I 
don’t see how one lone-maiden can occupy ten bed¬ 
rooms. Dad is obliged to go to Europe this month. 

“Now harken and hear something which I think 
thrilling. Dad says I may invite you and Margaret 
and Babs and the brothers I have heard you tell 
about, Peyton and Malcolm, to accompany me when 
I visit my new estate. I’m to have the use of Dad’s 
private car. For once I’m glad he is a high-up 
railway official, and I’ll telegraph you at what hour 
we will side-track at Douglas. If you can accept, be 
there bag and baggage. I’m so excited I can hardly 
keep my feet on earth. Sometimes I feel as though 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 263 

I were going to spin away up in the air. Good¬ 
bye for now. I’ll telegraph tomorrow. 

“Your K. S. 

“Eleanor.” , 

Virginia looked up with glowing eyes. “It 
sounds like magic, doesn’t it?” she inquired. “We 
wish for a place to go, in fact, we were wishing 
that we might go to this very California, and here 
is a letter inviting us to do so.” 

Margaret was equally delighted and excited. 
“It’s perfectly wonderful,” she agreed. “But, 
Virg, I didn’t suppose that dignified girl could be 
so, well, girlishly jubilant about anything. Maybe 
because she was a senior at school, I always 
thought she was unusually mature, I mean.” 

“News like this is enough to make any one act 
hilarious,” Virg declared. “Moreover, although 
Eleanor has a dignified carriage, I know that she is 
very enthusiastic about ever so many things.” 

“Of course, you know her much better than I 
do,” Megsy agreed, “since it was she who showed 
you how to edit the school magazine, and, of 
course, you had an opportunity to get better ac¬ 
quainted, as you spent hours together. I don’t won¬ 
der that Eleanor calls you ‘Kindred Spirit.’ I al- 


264 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


ways did think that Winona and Eleanor were more 
mental companions for you than any of the rest of 
us. Don’t think I’m jealous, Virg. Honestly, I 
am not. I am glad that you do love them, and even 
more glad that I have something no one can take 
from me, and that is the great happiness of being 
your adopted sister.” Then rising, Megsy held out 
her hand as she said, “If Malcolm is awake, let’s 
read the letter to him and then tell him our plan.” 

Silently Virginia rose and tenderly she kissed the 
quiet Margaret. “I do love you, little sister, and 
you occupy a place in my heart that no one else shall 
ever have.” Then with arms about each other, they 
went softly toward the closed door. 


.VIRGINIA'S RANCH NEIGHBORS 265 


CHAPTER XXIX. 

Malcolm's decision. 

Malcolm listened to the enthusiastic chatter of 
the two girls, who, having read Eleanor’s letter to 
him were each trying to outdo the other in thinking 
up arguments that might persuade the lad that ac¬ 
cepting the invitation was the very best thing that 
he could do and just what he should do to regain his 
strength. 

“But who will conduct the V. M. Ranch? Tell 
me that,” the lad protested. 

“Uncle Tex was overseer whenever Dad went 
away, and if our father could trust his judgment, 
surely we can.” 

“Righto, and, with such able helpers as Slim and 
Lucky, I really have nothing to fear on that score, 
and yet, of course, they might need my advice now 
and then. Did your friend, Eleanor, mention a town 
from which one could telegraph?” 

“Why, no, she didn’t, but of course there are 


266 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


towns everywhere. However, that is the one thing 
we want to get you away from, a long distance tele¬ 
phone or any other method of easy communication, 
for every day you would be wanting to call up and 
find out if V. M. were all right.” 

Then, as Malcolm still hesitated, Virg hastened 
on to say, “Of course, I didn’t know that we might 
go to California, as I only just now received this 
letter, but I did know that we wanted to go some - 
where, and so, yesterday, I talked it all over with 
dear old Uncle Tex and he agrees with me that it is 
your duty to all of us to go where you can rest and 
when I said, ‘You could take charge of V. M. just 
as you used to do for Dad, couldn’t you?’ Well, 
Malcolm, I wish you could have seen that dear old 
man’s face. Glowing doesn’t describe it. ‘Miss 
Virginie, dearie, Ah’d take it as powerful com¬ 
plimentin’ if Malcolm’d trust me, Ah sure would, an 
Lucky an’ Slim’d stand by me, that’s sartin’, was 
what he said, and his voice trembled, brother, honest¬ 
ly it did.” 

“I know how he feels,” the lad declared earnestly. 
“Uncle Tex has felt much like an old horse may, one 
that we feel has outlived its usefulness and is given 
pasturage for the rest of its life. Dad told us that 
he once had a horse like that. He thought it had 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 267 


served him long enough, and so he did not permit 
any of the boys to ride it, but after a time, he noticed 
that the old horse used to come up to the bars when 
it’s companions were being saddled and actually 
looked wistful, as though it were being left out. Then 
came the day of the great stampede. You’ve hearc^ 
Father tell about it time and again, Virg, how the 
boys were all away helping Mr. Slater with his 
roundup, and only old Peter left in the fenced-in 
pasture. The boys had cut out our cattle and had 
started them for home, Dad says, when all of a sud¬ 
den he heard a noise that sounded like distant thun¬ 
der. As it neared, he knew it to be the pounding of 
hoofs; then he could hear the bellowing of frightened 
cattle. He was alone on the ranch and the only horse 
nearby was old Peter. 

“Dad ran to the rise of ground above the dry 
creek and saw that the madened herd was swerving 
toward the north and might be lost in that waterless 
part of the desert called ‘The Burning Acres.’ While 
he was wondering what could be done to stop them, 
he heard a shrill whistling neigh from old Peter. Dad 
turned in time to see that horse race across the small 
pasture and leap that high-barred fence, nor did it 
stop, but kept on galloping as it had in its younger 
days, directly toward the mass of surging cattle. Dad 


268 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


said he was sure the old horse would be trampled to 
death. Many a time, in years gone by, he himself 
had ridden Peter when he wanted to turn cattle back, 
and now, though riderless, the old horse seemed bent 
on doing that very thing. Dad said he held his 
breath, but the unexpected happened. The cattle, 
not knowing what to make of the horse that was 
hurling itself at them, did swerve, and then, to Dad’s 
great joy, they descended into dry creek where, since 
they could not run, they were soon under the con¬ 
trol of the cowboys who came riding on ponies that 
were covered with lather.” 

“What of old Peter?” Megsy inquired. “Did he 
die then from exhaustion?” 

“Indeed not!” Malcolm told her. “And never 
again was he treated as though his days of useful¬ 
ness were all over. Dad himself rode him, not on 
hard rides, to be sure, but whenever he was just 
going to the station or to visit with a neighbor, and, 
after that, the old horse seemed much more content.” 
Then turning to his sister, the lad said, “I recalled 
that story when you told me how almost wistfully 
eager Uncle Tex was to be once more trusted as 
overseer of the place. And he shall be, too. Dear 
faithful old man.” 

“Then you will go with us ? You will let us take 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 269 


you to this wonderful San Ceritos?” the two girls 
cried at once. 

Laughingly the lad held out a hand to each of 
them. “Damsels fair,” he said, “take me wherever 
you wish, but now please depart. I wish to lay my 
plans.” 

Then Margaret accused, “Malcolm, there are 
twinkles in your eyes. I do believe that you are 
amused at something.” 

The lad, who still held the hand of his ward, turned 
and looked at her, then he smiled again as though 
he were pleased with what he saw, as indeed he well 
might be, for Margaret had been so excited that her 
cheeks were flushed and as pink as roses, while her 
dreamy brown eyes were shining like stars. Then, 
as the lad continued to gaze at her, the color deep¬ 
ened, and, withdrawing her hand, she said mischiev¬ 
ously, “Virginia, perhaps we better go, since Mal¬ 
colm has just told us that he prefers his own thoughts 
to our company.” 

“IVe changed my mind,” the lad declared. “I’d 
rather have you stay.” 

Virginia, who for the last few moments had been 
busy in another part of the room, turned suddenly 
and looked intently at her brother as though she were 
surprised about something. He was usually so seri- 


270 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


ous, so occupied with business that she had forgotten 
that he could tease. Then her face brightened, and 
stooping, she kissed him lightly on the forehead. 
“You are much better, dear, aren’t you?” she said, 
then taking her friend by the arm, she continued, 
“Come, Megsy, let’s hie us to our rooms and select 
the wardrobe we are to take with us. Eleanor’s tele¬ 
gram may come tomorrow and we will then have not 
more than three days to prepare for the journey.” 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 271 


CHAPTER XXX. 

A SCARE 

Late that afternoon the two girls went out to feed 
the hens and then, as was often their custom, they 
climbed the trail to the mesa that they might watch 
the sunset. On their return, Margaret gathered a 
few late desert flowers to place on the table beside 
Malcolm’s bed. It was still daylight when they re¬ 
turned and Megsy went at once to the closed door 
and tapped thereon. There was no response. What 
could it mean? Even if Malcolm had fallen asleep, 
the rapping would have awakened him. Beckoning 
to Virginia, she whispered anxiously, “Oh, Virg, 
what can have happened? Your brother can’t have 
lost consciousness, could he?” 

There was a sudden terror in the heart of Vir¬ 
ginia. Leaping forward, she turned the knob, but 
the door was locked. Before they could be thorough¬ 
ly frightened, however, they heard a merry laugh, 
and there stood Malcolm back of them. He had on 


272 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


his nice wooly bathrobe that the girls had given him 
for Christmas and his comfortable slippers. 

“You see,” he apologized, “Fve never had an op¬ 
portunity to wear them before, because this is the 
first time I’ve ever been even near sick, so please 
don’t scold, and I did want to get up and have sup¬ 
per with you girls. It seems to me that I’ve been in 
bed for weeks.” 

“One, only, to be accurate,” his sister corrected. 
“Malcolm, you sit down in this easy chair at once 
and let me feel your pulse.” 

“Very well, nurse,” the lad smilingly complied. 
In fact he was glad to sink into the big comfortable 
chair, which was drawn close to the hearth. He 
wasn’t as strong as he had expected to be. Virginia 
brought a knitted blanket to put over his knees while 
Margaret put sofa pillows back and around him. 

“If I’m treated this way,” he beamed, “I’m not at 
all sure that I’ll want to get well.” 

“Let’s have our supper in here by the fire,” Vir¬ 
ginia suggested. 

“Oh yes, let’s,” Megsy seconded. “Now, what 
ought our patient to eat? Bring me a pencil and 
paper and I’ll write my order.” There was again that 
merry twinkle in the eyes that were often so serious. 

Margaret skipped to the big writing desk and re- 


VIRGINIA'S RANCH NEIGHBORS 273 


turned with the requested materials. “And while you 
think about it, Virg and I will prepare for the feast.” 
They brought Virginia’s work table from her room 
and spread it with a dainty lunch cloth and put Mar¬ 
garet’s red blossoms in the center. “I don’t see 
what Malcolm can be writing,” Virginia said. “He 
ought only to have eggs on toast or something like 
that.” But when a moment later she looked at the 
paper which the lad gaily presented, she said, “Why 
Malcolm Davis, you’ve ordered everything that you 
ought not to have. Creamed oysters, of all things!” 

“Perhaps they wouldn’t hurt him,” interceded 
Margaret. “And you know the thing you have a 
hankering for is supposed to be what you need.” 
Then clapping her hands girlishly, she exclaimed, 
“Oh Virg, please say that we may have them. I’ll 
get the chafing dish out of my trunk. You know 
what fun we had in school with it. Then you get 
two cans of oysters, the milk, butter and seasoning, 
and we can prepare it all right here on the table. 
Wouldn’t that be jolly?” 

Virginia agreed that it would. Then she prepared 
the toast while Margaret, flushed and happy because 
she could do something for her beloved guardian, 
stirred up the cream sauce and dropped in the oysters. 
Malcolm, leaning back it? solid comfort, watched and 


274 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


admired. At last he commented, “Did ever a chap 
in all the world have two such sisters to take care 
of him!” 

There was a sudden twinge in the heart of Mar¬ 
garet. What could it mean? Surely she was glad, 
glad to have the splendid Malcolm call her “sister.” 
There was a note of tender wistfulness in her voice, 
which she herself did not know when she replied, 
“We would do anything, give up anything, Oh, it 
doesn’t matter what, if it would add to your happi¬ 
ness, Brother Malcolm.” Almost unconsciously the 
girl was thinking of the time that would surely come 
when someone, perhaps now unknown to them, 
would take in his life a place closer than that of 
sister. 

“Toast’s ready! How about the creamed oysters?” 
Virginia looked up from the hearth where she had 
been kneeling. 

“It’s done to a turn.” Megsy’s voice was merry 
once more. Then Virg put the buttered slices of 
toast on each plate, and Margaret placed dainty por¬ 
tions of the creamed oysters on them. 

Malcolm ate with greater relish than he had since 
he had been ill or rather exhausted, for he had no 
definite malady, just extreme weariness. When he 
asked for a second portion, he pretended to look im- 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 275 


ploringly at Virginia as though he feared she would 
say, “You have had sufficient for tonight.” And, 
indeed, maybe she might have said something of the 
kind, but Margaret was refilling his plate and it was 
too late to protest. 

When the dainty little meal was over and the 
small table had been carried away, Malcolm smiled 
contentedly at the two girls, who sank into nearby 
chairs, the light from the fire falling on their faces. 
For a time they were silent, each thinking his or her 
own thoughts. At last Malcolm said, “Virg, are 
they worth the proverbial penny?” 

The girl looked up brightly. “I was wondering 
how we are to convey Eleanor’s invitation to Babs 
and Peyton,” she replied. “I do hope that they can 
accompany us.” 


276 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


CHAPTER XXXI. 

DAWN THOUGHTS. 

The next morning before daylight Margaret 
was conscious that someone was stirring in the 
room next to hers. Becoming more fully awake, 
she rose, drew on her kimona and slippers and tip¬ 
toed to the door which stood open between the bed¬ 
rooms of the two girls. 

In the dim grey light she saw Virginia dressing. 
She was donning her riding khakis. 

“Why, Virg!” Megsy exclaimed in surprise, 
“where away so early? You aren’t going to ride 
to the Three Cross Ranch, are you, to tell Babs and 
Peyton about the invitation ?” 

“Not this morning, dear. I want to wait until 
we receive the telegram from Eleanor that I may be 
more definite in what I have to tell them.” 

“Then, where are you going? I might guess the 
Papago Village, only I know that Winona is not 
there.” 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 277 


Virginia smiled brightly. “It’s an odd fancy, 
this of mine,” she confessed, “but last night I had 
a dream; one of those wonderfully realistic dreams 
when you feel sure that you are awake and that 
the something is actually happening. I dreamed 
that you and I had ridden over to Hog Canon ta 
see the Wallace family. You know, Megsy, my con¬ 
science has troubled me because, after our first visit, 
I never went again and that was at least three 
weeks ago. Mrs. Wallace and the children have 
so little to interest them that even a visit from their 
neighbors seems like a treat.” 

Megsy, seated on the edge of the bed, remarked. 
“I don’t believe they feel that way about neighbors 
in general, but just about Virginia Davis in par¬ 
ticular.” 

The girl, who was lacing her high riding boots, 
looked up with a smile. “My friends spoil me, don’t 
they, Megsy. It’s well that I know myself as I am 
not as they try to picture me. While I’m gone, will 
you take good care of my brother ? I want him to 
stay in bed all morning, though you may have Sing 
Long make him some nice broth at ten if you will. 
However, I expect to be back long before that.” 

Virginia had not asked her friend to accompany 
her and Margaret, though she had thought of re- 


278 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


questing to be allowed do so, believed that for some 
reason Virg wished to be alone, nor was she wrong. 

It was still the grey of early dawn when the girl 
ran down the trail leading to the small pasture 
where the ponies remained at night. Some of them 
were lying down and others were tugging at an en¬ 
closed haystack which was kept filled with the long 
desert grass that grew in the valley pasture, a mile 
from the house. But one among them whinnied as 
the girl approached and, kicking up frolicsome 
heels, he cantered to the bars, knowing well that his 
mistress was about to let them down. And he was 
right. 

“Good morning, Comrade/* Virginia said as she 
smoothed his nose affectionately. “Would you like 
to take me for a ride this morning?” 

Again the pony whinnied. “Of course, I knew you 
would, and if you won’t tell, I’ll tell you a secret. 
I wanted to be all alone just once more before I go 
away. There’s something I want to think about. 
It doesn’t have to be decided just yet; not until I’m 
nearer eighteen, but I do want to be thinking about 
it.” 

Then kissing the flipping ear of her apparently in¬ 
terested companion, the girl started on a light run 
to the shed near the great windmill where the sad- 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 279 


dies hung. Comrade, with colt-like antics, followed. 
It was evident that he was trying to express the joy 
that he, too, felt at being the only companion his 
loved mistress desired. 

They had crossed the dry creek bed and had 
climbed up on the high opposite bank before a flush 
of rose appeared in the eastern skies. Virginia drew 
rein and sat for one long silent moment watching 
the loveliness of the dawning day. A fleecy white 
cloud near the horizon became opalescent with first 
one exquisitely delicate color and then another. 
Then with a burst of glory, the sun rose in sheets 
of flaming gold and the desert, which had been like 
a gloomy waste of desolation but a moment before, 
was transformed to a wide billowing expanse of 
shimmering silvery-grey. 

Jack rabbits fearlessly gamboled about the girl 
and pony; birds sang and a wren darted from its 
nest in the top of a choya cactus to contentedly re¬ 
turn again to its wee young when it knew that the 
one who was passing by was a friend of all things 
that live. 

The trail dipped into a hollow where mesquite 
grass grew. Instantly there was a whirring rush 
of wings and a flock of quail soared high into the 
air, to whirl, a moment later, and settle back to 


280 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


their former feeding place. It made the heart of the 
girl rejoice because her wild neighbors seemed to 
know that she was one of them. 

“We’re all kin folks, somehow, though we can’t 
understand, and why try, since the sages of all time 
have not yet been able to tell how a wee seed can 
fashion a flower. After all, Comrade, if we’re just 
kind to every form of life we meet on this wonderful 
earth, I think we will have done the best we know.” 

There was a long stretch of sand to be crossed 
before the Seven Peak Range would be reached and 
the girl, watching the trail ahead, gradually became 
unconscious of all about her and was once again on 
the rock in the moonlight with the lad who loved 
her at her side. 

“I might think that I care enough to marry Pey¬ 
ton,” she was thinking, “but would it be quite fair 
to others? There are Barbara, and Malcolm and 
Margaret to consider. I just couldn’t leave my won¬ 
derful brother all alone on V. M. My adopted sis¬ 
ter I might take to Three Cross with me, if I went to 
live there, but Malcolm—I just can’t leave him! First 
he lost the mother whom he so idolized, and then 
our father, and never did a boy have a closer pal 
than Dad was, and now if I go, he will lose his only 
sister and be so lonely and so all alone. I only wish 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 281 


he might meet some nice girl for whom he could 
care as Peyton cares for me, but he does not seem 
to feel the need of love; I mean, not that way.” 

Then it was that another thought suggested. 
“Perhaps it is just because he has you that he has 
not thought of bringing another mistress to V. M. 
Perhaps he would care for someone, if he knew 
you were going away.” 

Suddenly there was a rush of tears in the violet 
eyes, and impulsively leaning her cheek against her 
pony’s head, Virginia said with a little half sob, 
“Oh Comrade, I don’t believe after all that I really 
care for Peyton as much as I should, for I can’t 
bear the thought of leaving my very own home 
where Mother and Dad were so happy and where 
I have been so loved. I can’t think of any other 
girl I would want there, but just Margaret, and, 
of course, she would want to go with me.” 

Then looking up with a smile that flashed through 
the tears she held out her arms to the shining sky. 
“Little Mother,” she said softly, as though she were 
really addressing someone, “I am forgetting that 
you told me to let my life blossom as quietly and 
trustingly as a flower unfolds, knowing that the 
right thing will come at the right time.” Then 
again the girl ruminated, “How topsy-turvy would 


282 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


be this universe of ours if the flowers said to them¬ 
selves, ‘Dear me, I wonder now if I’d better open 
up my petals to the sun; no telling how soon clouds 
may come and my bloom spoiled in a storm.’ 

“Comrade, that’s what I’m going to do. I’m go¬ 
ing to trust, and let my life blossom as it will. 
What would Brother Malcolm think if he knew 
that I am trying to marry him to someone whom 
as yet he doesn’t know?” Then as the canon trail 
had been reached, Virg turned her pony’s head that 
way and slowly began the ascent. 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 283 


CHAPTER XXXIL 

NEIGHBORHOOD NEWS. 

It was Peter Wallace who first saw the approach¬ 
ing visitor. Instantly his joyful shout rang out, 
“Ma! Ma! Here she is! Here’s Miss Virgie just as 
you were a-wishing.” 

So, after all, Mrs. Wallace had been wanting to 
see the girl and, with a panicky feeling in her heart, 
she hoped that nothing was seriously wrong. “What 
if someone were ill or—” She had no time for 
further surmizing, for Comrade, having reached the 
top of the trail, made it possible for her to see the 
little house overhung with sheltering rocks. What 
she saw amazed her more than anything she had 
fancied. 

Trunks stood packed and strapped on the small 
front porch. The house had evidently been closed 
for an indefinite period as there were wooden blinds 
at the windows barred across, and the entire family 
was arrayed as for a journey. Mr. Wallace at the 
moment was busily boarding up the front door. 


284 VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


Had the water supply ceased? Were they being 
forced to leave and where could they be going? But 
it was evident by the shining face of the little mother 
that the something that had happened must be of a 
pleasant nature. “Oh, Miss Virginia,” she was hur¬ 
rying forward with hands outstretched as soon as 
the girl had dismounted, “how I did want to see you 
before we left, but I just couldn’t think of a way. I 
believe I sent you messages all day yesterday to say 
goodbye. Did you get any of them?” 

“I did indeed, Mrs. Wallace. That’s why I came,” 
the girl replied, glad indeed that she had followed 
her intuitive guiding. Then, as her roving eyes 
seemed to be asking a question, the mother hurried 
on to answer it. “You wonder where we are going. 
It’s almost like an answer to prayer. In fact, I think 
it is an answer, and a fulfilment of Dad’s faith. We’re 
going to Douglas to live where the children can get 
a schooling.” 

“I am going to Yale,” freckled-faced Peter put in 
excitedly. 

“Ssh! Sonny, you mustn’t be telling that around, 
or folks will think you’re a bit queer. Little boys 
don’t go to Yale, and you’ll have to study powerfully 
hard and be extra smart to ever get there, won’t he, 
Miss Virginia?” 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 285 


“I believe he’ll make it.” The girl had placed a 
loving hand on the hair that was sunburnt, for the 
boy’s expression had been suddenly crestfallen. 
“Keep it always as your goal, Peter, and before 
many years you’ll be writing me a letter telling me 
that you’re on your way to that great Eastern col¬ 
lege.” Then to the mother, “Now, please begin at 
the beginning and tell me what has happened? Did 
the water give out?” 

It was Mr. Wallace who replied as he advanced 
with a hand outstretched. “Indeed it did not and it’s 
the water that has brought us our wonderful good 
luck, or rather, the instrument, I suppose.” 

Virginia’s expressive face encouraged the speaker 
to continue, which he did. “You recall that fine lad 
who camped down at the entrance to the canon, the 
one who came up here with you ?” 

“Yes, indeed the Traylors. I have been hoping 
we’d hear more about both of them. Have you seen 
them again?” 

“Well, not exactly seen them, but Mr. Traylor 
sent a legal representative to see me. He said that, 
because of his son’s glowing descriptions of my in¬ 
vention, he wanted to back me financially in having 
it patented. He also offered me a splendid position 
in connection with his smelting founderies in 


286 VIRGINIA'S RANCH NEIGHBORS 


Douglas and Bisbee. It seems that for some time 
he has been trying to perfect some labor-saving de¬ 
vices and he believes, and so do I, that it can be 
done.” 

“And it isn't something we’re taking on chance 
either,” Mrs. Wallace hastened to explain. “Dad, 
of course, is pretty much of a dreamer but this is a 
sure income for five years with a signed contract 
backing it.” 

At this point, Peter, who had evidently been 
watching from a peak higher up, flew down to the 
group crying excitedly, “It’s coming, Ma! Mr. 
Slater’s truck that’s to take us to town.” 

“Well, I don’t know when I have heard more 
wonderful news,” the visiting girl declared. “I 
won’t say goodbye, for, after all, you are still to 
remain one of my neighbors. Douglas, being only 
twenty miles away, with a good road between it and 
V. M., is almost nearer via our auto, then it is to 
Hog Canon on horseback.” 

Then she shook hands with the grown-ups, kissed 
the children, who clung to her, left a bundle with 
Sari and another with Jane, telling Peter that his 
would come later, and rode away. 

“Don’t open them yet,” the mother said. “I know 
what’s in them. Miss Virgie told me. They are 


VIRGINIA’S RANCH NEIGHBORS 287 


pretty dresses that she and her friend have made 
for you girlies. They’ll be just what you need for 
starting in school. Goodness, where is your Dad?” 

“There he is, high up where the spring is. Now, 
he’s coming. Hurry Pop! Mr. Slater’s cowboys are 
coming up the trail to pack our trunks down.” 

The man’s eyes glowed, but he spoke no word. 
Silently he reached out his hand and clasped that of 
his faithful little wife, and she understood. 


The End. 





































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